£      3 


/Or- 


I  lift!  I 


5CJ 


"^/w 


THE  LIFE  OF 


General  Robert  E.  Lee 


By  G.  MERCER  ADAM 


THE  LIFE-CAREER  AND  MILITARY 
ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  GREAT 
SOUTHERN  GENERAL,  WITH  A 
RECORD  OF  THE  CAMPAIGNS  OF 
THE  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA 


A.  L.  BURT  COMPANY,     *        * 
j*        PUBLISHERS,   NEW  YORK 


COPYRIGHT     1905 

BY  A.  L.  BURT  COMPANY 

GENERAL  ROBERT  E. 
By  G.  Mercer  Adam 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAOE 

I.  Introductory 1 

II.  Birth,  Youthhood,  and  Early  Career 17 

III.  In  the  Mexican  War 27 

IV.  The  Interval  between  the  Mexican  War  and  the 

War  forthe  Union 44 

V.  The  Opposing  Forces  Preparing  for  Conflict 60 

VI.  The  DramaOpens 73 

VII.  The   Campaign  against  Pope  in  Northern  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  Second  Battle  of  Bull  Run 95 

VIII.  The  Maryland  Campaign 104 

IX.  The  Fredericksburg  Campaign  (Oct.-Dec.,  1862) 

and  the  Edict  of  Emancipation 119 

X.  The  Chancellors ville  Campaign  and  Battle 129 

XL  The   Second   Invasion   of   the  North,  and   the 

Battle  of  Gettysburg  (July  1-3, 1863) 148 

XII.  Lee  Retreats  to  Virginia  and  Winters  behind  the 

Rapidan 166 

XIII.  The  Wilderness  Campaign 175 

XIV.  Operations  on  the  South  Side  of  the  James  River, 

and  the  Siege  of  Petersburg 191 

XV.  The  Autumn  of  1864,  and  the  Winter  of  1864-65. .  212 
XVI.  Operations  in  Georgia,  Tennessee,  and  the  Caro- 

linas  in  the  Winter  of  1864-65. ,,,.., 239 

iii 


iy  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGK 

XVH.  The  Close  of  the  Long  Struggle 249 

TVTII.  The  Retirement  from  Petersburg  and  Richmond.  266 
XIX.  Grant's  Peace  Overtures  to  Lee,  and  the  Surren- 
der at  Appomattox 276 

yy.  General  Lee  installed  as  President  of  Washington 

College,  Lexington,  Va 298 

XXl.  Evening  Shadows,  and  Death 811 


PREFACE. 

THOUGH  more  than  a  generation  has  now 
elapsed  since  General  Robert  E.  Lee  passed  from 
the  scenes  of  his  illustrious  deeds,  public  interest 
in  the  great  soldier  and  his  career  is  still  active, 
and  turns  with  increasing  curiosity  to  any  attrac- 
tive recital  of  the  incidents  in  his  eventful  life — 
many  as  are  the  biographies  that  have  already 
been  published  of  him.  Nor  is  this  perennial 
interest  in  the  loved  hero  of  "  a  Lost  Cause  "  to  be 
wondered  at,  when  we  recall  not  only  the  histori- 
cal importance  of  the  long  struggle  in  which  he 
so  nobly  fought,  and  against  such  heavy  odds  ;  but 
the  remarkable  military  ability  and  eminently 
high  character  of  the  man  whose  career  is  identi- 
fied with  the  great  conflict,  and  whose  life-story 
is  throughout  so  attractive  and  inspiring. 

The  era  is  now  passed  when,  in  the  North,  Con- 
federates and  their  sympathizers  were  hotly  stig- 
matized as  "  rebels, "and  when  their  attitude  and 
their  cause  were  aspersed  as  hateful  as  well  as 
treasonable.  To-day,  the  drama  of  the  Civil  War 

iii 


Jv  PREFACE. 

has  gone  into  the  limbo  of  history,  and  can  now 
be  written  about  dispassionately  and,  even  on  the 
Southern  side,  with  admiring  Northern  curiosity 
and  interest.  This  is  one  of  the  manifest  advant- 
ages the  modern-day  writer  has  in  dealing  with  the 
events  of  the  distracting  and  calamitous  period, 
and  in  reviewing  the  whole  story  with  calm  delib- 
eration and  historic  impartiality.  Another  and 
special  advantage  has  the  narrator  of  the  era's 
annals,  when,  as  is  the  present  case,  he  is  writing 
biography  as  well  as  history,  and  has  so  entranc- 
ing a  theme  to  deal  with  as  the  life-career  and 
achievements  of  so  distinguished  and  revered  an 
actor  in  the  tragedy  of  the  Civil  War  as  General 
Robert  E.  Lee.  For  the  latter  and  his  estimable 
character  the  present  writer  has  always  had  the 
highest  regard,  and  even  veneration  ;  and  though 
this  perhaps  may  not  shield  him  from  criticism 
should  there  be  found  shortcomings  in  the  within 
work,  it  ought  at  least  to  placate  the  reader 
towards  the  author  of  it,  if  he  is  also  an  admirer 
of  Lee,  and  lead  him  to  be  at  once  indulgent  and 
friendly. 

G.M.  A. 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

IN  attempting  to  write  a  record  of  the  Life  and 
Career  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  great  com- 
mander of  the  Southern  Army  in  the  Civil  War, 
the  author  undertakes  the  work  with  some  diffi- 
dence and  misgiving.  This  is  occasioned,  in  part, 
by  a  sense  of  responsibility  in  undertaking  so  im- 
portant a  task — a  task  that  had  already  been  so 
well  achieved  by  other  and  prominent  biographers 
of  "  the  hero  of  a  Lost  Cause  "  ;  and  in  part  also, 
by  a  doubt  in  the  present  writer's  mind  of  being 
able  to  do  adequate  justice  to  so  eminent  an  actor 
in  the  drama  of  his  time,  who  was,  moreover,  one 
of  the  greatest  soldiers  and  most  clever  military 
tacticians  of  the  past  century,  and,  withal,  a 
splendid  type  of  Christian  manhood.  Here,  how- 
ever, the  writer's  hesitation  ends,  and  the  im- 
pelling motive  finally  becomes  admiration — long 

1 


2  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

and  heartily  entertained— for  the  noble  theme  of 
this  volume,  and  the  ambition  to  add  another, 
and  it  is  hoped  a  not  unworthy  tribute,  to  the/, 
fame  of  the  illustrious  General,  who  was  person- 
ally not  only  greatly  beloved  and  highly  esteemed 
in  his  day,  but  whose  professional  eminence 
among  the  renowned  commanders  of  the  war  is 
conceded  by  every  critic  and  writer  of  distinction 
who  has  dealt  with  its  tragic  annals. 

But  great  as  is  the  niche  filled  by  the  grand  old 
soldier  in  the  history  of  the  Southern  side  of 
the  Civil  War  contest,  we  must  remember  that 
this  is  not  all  we  have  to  deal  with  in  relating  the 
life  and  military  exploits  of  the  man,  since  long 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  the  Eebellion 
and  his  espousal  of  the  interests  of  his  native 
State  in  that  dire  struggle,  Lee  had  had  a  length- 
ened, varied,  and  honorable  career  of  service  in 
the  Army  of  the  United  States.  In  that  service, 
not  only  had  he  won  distinction  as  chief  engineer 
officer  and  active  combatant  in  the  War  with 
Mexico,  where  he  rendered  heroic  and  conspicuous 
service  at  the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  was 
wounded  in  the  assault ;  but  was,  moreover,  of 
invaluable  service  to  the  commander  of  the  ex- 
pedition, General  Winfield  Scott,  in  his  council 
of  officers,  as  well  as  in  important  reconnoissances, 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

in  planting  batteries,  in  conducting  columns 
from  point  to  point  under  fire  during  the  assault 
upon  the  place,  and  taking  part  in  the  onerous  and 
often  perilous  operations  of  the  siege.  For  this 
highly  efficient  work  he  was  repeatedly  mentioned 
in  the  General's  despatches  ;  while  from  the  cam- 
paign as  a  whole  he  issued,  as  it  has  been  said, 
1 1  crowned  with  honors  and  covered  with  brevets 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct."  After  this 
we  find  Lee  engaged  in  the  important  duty  of  con- 
structing defensive  works  at  various  points  for  the 
Washington  government ;  and  during  the  year 
1852-55,  he  acted  as  commandant  of  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point,  of  which  he  was  himself 
a  distinguished  graduate.  Later  on,  Colonel  Lee 
was  transferred  from  the  Engineers  to  the  Cavalry 
branch  of  the  service,  when  he  held  for  a  time 
responsible  posts  in  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Kansas, 
and  Texas,  and  was  at  Harper's  Ferry,  West  Vir- 
ginia, at  the  era  of  the  John  Brown  raid.  When 
Civil  War  loomed  upon  the  scene,  Lee,  as  we 
shall  ere  long  see,  had  reached  his  fifty-fourth 
year,  and  had  thirty-two  years  of  honorable  serv- 
ice to  his  credit  in  the  national  army.  Moreover, 
so  conspicuous  had  been  his  career,  and  so  highly 
esteemed  was  he  as  an  officer  and  a  gentleman, 
that,  had  he  remained  in  the  service  of  the  Union, 


4  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

his  name,  it  is  well  known,  was  designed  to  be 
brought  before  the  military  authorities  of  the 
nation  and  that  favorably,  as  the  successor  in  the 
chief  command  of  the  army  to  the  then  aged 
warrior,  General  Winfield  Scott.  Nor,  at  the 
crisis  that  then  fell  upon  the  country,  was  Lee 
actuated  by  caprice  or  mere  partisanship  in  tak- 
ing sides  with  the  South  in  the  calamitous  war  that 
was  about  to  ensue  and  drench  the  land  in  fratri- 
cidal blood.  His  attitude  was  far  otherwise  ;  for 
at  first  we  know  that  he  regarded  Secession  as 
anarchical,  if  not  treasonable,  and  looked  with 
grave  apprehension  upon  the  threatened  rupture 
of  the  Union,  and  was  ill  at  ease  at  the  prospect 
of  the  disseverance  of  his  own  relations  with  the 
North  and  the  breaking  of  the  ties,  professional 
and  social,  that  had  hitherto  connected  him  with 
its  military  service.  The  slavery  question  did  not 
appeal  to  him  as  a  cause  of  sectional  strife,  his 
chief  concern  being  the  attitude  of  his  native 
State  in  the  unhappy  prospect  of  war,  for  to  his 
loved  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  he  was  chival- 
rously loyal,  and  if  strife  was  to  come  he  felt  that 
he  could  not  draw  his  sword  against  her  and  her 
interests.  This  was  his  answer  to  his  friend  and 
superior  officer,  General  Winfield  Scott,  as  well 
as  to  the  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair,  son  of  the  then 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

Postmaster-General  of  Washington,  who  was  au- 
thorized to  offer  Lee  command  of  the  Federal 
army  if  he  would  remain  stanch  in  his  fidelity 
to  the  Union.  In  deserting  the  Northern  cause, 
he  asserted  that  he  could  not  consult  his  own  feel- 
ings entirely,  so  strong  was  his  allegiance  to  his 
own  section  of  the  country  as  well  as  faithful  his 
attachment  to  his  own  State.  "  Save  in  defense 
of  my  State,"  he  feelingly  wrote  in  the  Spring  of 
1861  to  General  Scott,  in  asking  to  be  relieved  of 
his  command,  "I  never  desire  again  to  draw  my 
sword."  After  resigning  his  commission  in  the 
Federal  service,  his  own  State  having  by  this 
time  prepared  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  and 
make  the  call  upon  her  many  brave  sons  to  rally 
to  her  standard  and  espouse  the  Southern  side  in 
the  pending  struggle,  Lee  repaired  to  his  Virginia 
home  as  a  private  citizen,  while  deprecating  war 
and  trusting  that  sectional  strife  would  not  break 
out,  but  that  a  peaceful  solution  would  yet  be 
formed  of  the  grave  problems  that  were  then 
a  menace  to  the  nation.  Unhappily,  war,  and  not 
peace,  was  to  be  the  issue  of  the  distracting  times, 
for  already  seven  States,  in  accordance  with  con- 
vention ordinances,  had  taken  themselves  out  of 
the  Union,  and  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  had 
organized  a  separate  government  under  the  desig- 


6  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

nation  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 
A  little  later  on,  the  other  sister  States  of  the 
South  joined  the  new  Confederacy,  whose  capital 
was  Richmond,  Va. ;  while  its  president,  provis- 
ionally, became  Jefferson  Davis,  formerly  a  mem- 
ber  of  the  U.  S.  House  of  Representatives  and 
national  senator,  who  arrived  at  Richmond,  May 
29th  (1861),  and  was  duly  installed  in  office. 
Meanwhile,  Virginia  had  declared  for  Secession 
and  joined  the  Confederacy,  and  Lee,  having  been 
nominated  by  the  Governor  of  his  own  State  as  a 
delegate  to  the  Virginia  Convention,  he  now  re- 
paired to  Richmond,  where  he  was  enthusiasti- 
cally intrusted  with  the  chief  command  of  the 
Virginia  forces  and  confirmed  in  the  rank  of 
major-general,  which  high  office  had  been  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  Governor  of  his  State, 
under  the  authority  of  the  Legislature. 

In  what  estimation  General  Lee  was  held,  even 
at  this  time  in  the  South,  may  be  seen  from  the 
reception  accorded  him  by  the  Convention  at 
Richmond,  on  the  occasion  of  his  presentation  to 
the  body  to  receive  its  president's  address  of  wel- 
come, be  formally  installed  in  the  office  of  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  military  and  naval  force 
of  the  State,  and  accept  his  instructions  to  mobilize 
and  put  in  the  field  an  army  for  its  defense  and 


INTRODUCTORY.  f 

protection.  The  appointment,  we  need  hardly 
say,  had  come  unsought  by  him,  and  was  con- 
firmed by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Convention, 
the  fullest  confidence  of  the  body  (handsomely 
vouched  for  by  the  president)  being  felt  in  his 
ability,  integrity,  and  trusty  honor,  as  well  as  in 
the  high  historic  traditions  of  his  family,  by  which 
General  Lee,  like  his  illustrious  forebears,  had 
always  been  influenced  and  guided,  and  had  ever 
scrupulously  respected  with  pardonable  pride  and 
becoming  dignity.  After  a  brief,  modest  reply 
in  acknowledgment  of  the  Convention's  reposeful 
trust  in  him  and  assignment  of  duty,  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief entered  vigorously  upon  his  task 
of  organizing  and  equipping  the  State  forces,  which 
were  subsequently  merged  with  those  of  the  Con- 
federacy as  a  whole ;  while  Lee  became  one  of  the 
able  group  of  general  officers  of  the  regular  army 
of  the  Confederate  States,  still  retaining,  however, 
his  chief  command  of  the  army  of  Virginia. 

When  these  momentous  events  were  taking 
place  in  the  South,  with  the  formation  of  a  Confed- 
erate Government,  based  on  the  claim  of  their 
leaders  to  State  Rights,  and  in  opposition  to  North- 
ern sentiment  adverse  to  the  peculiar  institutions 
of  the  South,  menaced  as  it  was  thought  by  the 
success  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  election  of 


g  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  the  North  at  last  awoke  to  a 
sense  of  the  reality  of  the  situation,  quickened  by 
the  levying  of  war  by  the  seceded  States,  the  de- 
parture of  their  representatives  and  senators  from 
Congress,  and  the  seizure  of  the  forts  and  Federal 
property  in  the  border  States.  The  call  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  for  75,000  militia  had  been  issued, 
and  the  North  roused  itself  to  action,  in  virtue  of 
the  powers  vested  in  the  Executive  head  by  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  nation.  The  response 
to  the  Northern  summons  of  troops  was  immediate 
and  gratifying ;  and  following  it  came  the  blockade 
of  the  ports  of  the  seceding  States,  the  rallying  of 
forces  to  the  defense  of  Washington,  with  prepara- 
tions for  the  invasion  of  Virginia  and  the  contem- 
plated raid  southward  with  the  design  of  capturing 
and  occupying  Richmond,  the  seat  of  the  "  rebel " 
government. 

But  before  proceeding  with  the  narrative  of 
events  embraced  in  the  era  of  the  Civil  War,  in 
which  General  Lee,  during  the  four  protracted 
years  of  the  great  conflict,  bore  so  conspicuous  and 
brilliant  a  part,  let  us  relate  the  early  personal 
history  of  the  intrepid  soldier  and  valiant  captain- 
general  of  the  Southern  army  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  and  fill  in  the  details  of  his  remarkable 
career  from  his  birth  and  up-bringing,  with  some 


INTRODUCTORY.  .       9 

account  of  his  family  and  the  traditions  of  his  his- 
toric ancestry  and  their  genealogical  belongings. 
In  what  remains  of  this  chapter,  let  us  first  glance 
at  the  lineage  and  advent  of  our  hero. 

Robert  Edward  Lee  belonged  to  the  old  Colonial 
family  of  the  Lees  of  Virginia,  which  has  given 
not  a  few  distinguished  statesmen  and  soldiers  to 
the  service  of  his  country.  The  first  of  the  family 
we  learn  of,  Colonel  Richard  Lee,  came  to  Virginia 
in  Charles  the  First's  era  from  the  old  home  of  the 
Lees  in  Stafford  Langton,  Essex,  England,  other 
branches  of  the  family  being  resident  of  the  coun- 
ties of  Bucks,  Oxford,  and  Shrops.  The  home  of 
the  Lees  in  the  latter  shire  was  at  Morton  Regis, 
a  representative  of  which  family  branch  also  em- 
igrated to  the  New  World  in  early  Colonial  times 
and  settled  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia. 
Colonel  Richard  Lee,  being  a  sturdy  adherent  of 
the  reigning  Stuarts  and  the  scion  of  an  influ- 
ential English  family,  when  he  arrived  in  Virginia, 
naturally  became  a  firm  ally  of  Sir  William 
Berkeley,  governor  of  the  colony,  who  warmly 
welcomed  the  newcomer  as  a  member  of  the 
King's  Privy  Council  and  the  monarch's  nominee 
for  the  post  of  the  Colonial  State-secretaryship. 
Stanch  royalist  as  he  was,  Lee,  with  Berkeley's 
assistance,  kept  the  colony  true  in  its  allegiance 


1Q  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

to  the  Stuart  cause,  so  long  at  least  as  the  un- 
fortunate Charles  I.  lived  ;  and  when  Cromwell's 
Commonwealth  was  created  he  was  instrumental 
in  negotiating  a  treaty  between  it  and  the  colony, 
recognizing  the  latter  as  an  independent  State, 
until  the  Restoration  gave  the  lordship  of  the 
Virginia  colony  back  to  the  Stuart  House,  Charles 
II.  being  persuaded  to  proclaim  himself  King  of 
Virginia,  as  well  as  of  France  and  the  separate 
kingdoms  of  Britain.  Colonel  Eichard  Lee  at 
length  died  and  found  a  grave  in  Virginia,  where 
he  had  settled  with  his  family.  One  son,  a  name- 
sake, survived  him,  and  as  a  man  of  fine  parts 
became  a  member  of  the  Colonial  council.  He 
married  an  English  lady,  a  Miss  Corbin,  by  whom, 
besides  a  daughter,  who  subsequently  married  in 
Virginia,  he  had  five  sons,  all  of  whom  rose  to  be 
influential  men  in  the  Colony,  and  by  their  mar- 
riages allying  themselves  with  many  well-known 
Virginia  families.  Of  these  sons,  two  became 
notable  in  the  later  annals  of  the  Lee  family  : 
these  were  Thomas  and  Henry,  the  fourth  and 
fifth  sons,  respectively,  of  Richard  Lee,  who  died 
about  the  year  1690.  Of  Henry  Lee  we  shall 
write  later  on.  The  fourth  son,  Thomas,  who 
resided  at  Stratford,  Va.,  and  there  erected  a 
magnificent  manor-house  long  a  marvel  among 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

the  colonial  homes  of  the  Old  Dominion,  allied 
himself  with  an  influential  family  in  the  colony, 
the  progeny  including  two  daughters  and  six 
sons.  The  eldest  of  the  latter,  Philip  Ludwell 
Lee,  in  turn  married  and  had  two  daughters,  the 
elder  of  whom,  Matilda,  became  the  wife  of  her 
second  cousin,  Colonel  Henry  Lee,  known  in 
history  as  "  Light-Horse  Harry,"  and  the  father 
(though  by  a  second  wife)  of  the  subject  of  this 
memoir — General  Robert  E.  Lee.  The  third  son 
of  Thomas  Lee,  Governor  of  Virginia,  Eichard 
Henry  Lee  (1732-179i),  was  the  noted  champion 
of  American  Independence,  the  patriot  orator 
who,  in  the  Continental  Congress,  in  June,  1776, 
offered  the  now  famous  resolution  that  "  these 
United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be  free 
and  independent  States."  In  making  this  free, 
bold  speech  the  sturdy  statesman  of  his  day  took 
unflinchingly  the  side  of  popular  rights  against 
the  encroachment  of  the  mother  country,  as  he 
previously  showed  in  opposing  the  Stamp  Act,  and 
in  a  brilliant,  impressive  speech  now  advocated 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  by  the 
same  Congress,  in  July,  1775,  that  the  historic 
"Address  of  the  Twelve  Colonies  to  the  Inhab- 
itants ot  Great  Britain  "  was  adopted  and  trans- 
mitted to  the  motherland.  In  the  closing  years 


12  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Richard  Henry  Lee 
took  part  against  England  in  the  field  at  the  head 
of  the  militia  of  Westmoreland  County,  Va.  ;  from 
'  1789  to  1792,  he  sat  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  though  not  a  Federalist  he  warmly  supported 
the  Washington  administration.     As  an  orator, 
he  was  by  his  contemporaries  called  "  the  Amer- 
ican Cicero "  and  was  an  impressive  and  distin- 
guished public  speaker.    He  was,  moreover,  "a 
man  of  amiable  and   noble   character,  of  com- 
manding presence,  excellent  abilities,   and  self- 
sacrificing  patriotism."    In  these    respects,    his 
virtues    were    conspicuously    reflected     in    his 
famous  son. 

We  now  turn  back  to  trace  the  pedigree  of 
Henry,  fifth  son  of  Richard  Lee,  the  early  and 
direct  ancestor   of  General   Robert  E.  Lee;    a 
distant  relation  of  R.  H.  Lee,  the  Revolutionary 
statesman ;  and   the  grandfather  of  the  distin- 
guished commander  of  "  Lee's  Legion,"  commonly 
known  as  "Light-Horse  Harry."    This  Henry 
Lee  married  a  Miss  Bland,  by  whom  he  had 
several  children,   one  of  whom,  Henry,  took  a 
Miss  Grymes  to  wife,  and  by  her  had  issue  three 
daughters  and  five  sons.     Of  the  latter,  the  third 
son,  a  Henry  also  (1756-1818),  became  the  famous 
soldier  of  the  Revolution  and  the  father  of  the 


INTRODUCTOKY.  13 

subject  of  the  present  Memoir.  After  graduating 
at  Princeton,  this  distinguished  member  of  the 
notable  Lee  family,  as  the  present  writer  has  else- 
where narrated,  entered  the  Continental  army, 
and  at  the  battle  of  Gerinantown  (Oct.  4,  1777)  his 
cavalry  troop  was  selected  by  General  Washington 
as  his  personal  body-guard.  In  January,  1778, 
when  occupying  a  small  stone  house  with  a  body 
of  ten  men,  the  remainder  of  his  command  being 
absent  on  a  foraging  expedition,  the  building  was 
surrounded  by  200  British  cavalry,  who  attempted 
to  take  Lee  prisoner,  but  were  met  with  so  spirited 
a  resistance  that  they  were  compelled  to  retreat. 
Soon  after  this,  Henry  Lee  was  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  major,  with  the  command  of  three  com- 
panies of  cavalry.  While  holding  this  rank  he 
planned  and  executed  the  brilliant  assault  on  the 
British  post  at  Paulus  Hook,  their  headquarters 
opposite  the  city  of  New  York.  Lee  surprised 
and  took  the  garrison  under  the  eyes  of  the 
British  army  and  navy,  and  safely  conducted  his 
prisoners  within  the  American  lines,  many  miles 
distant  from  the  captured  post.  Than  this  there 
are  few  enterprises  to  be  found  on  military  record 
equal  in  hazard  and  difficulty,  or  are  known  to 
have  been  conducted  with  more  boldness,  skill, 
and  daring  activity.  It  was,  moreover,  accom- 


14.  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

plished  without  loss,  while  it  filled  the  enemy's 
camp  with  confusion  and  astonishment,  and  shed 
an  unfading  luster  on  American  arms.  In  1780, 
Lee  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel 
commandant  of  a  separate  legionary  corps,  known 
as  "  Lee's  Legion  "  of  light  horse,  and  was  sent  to 
the  Southern  Department  of  the  United  States,  to 
join  the  army  under  General  Greene,  where  he 
remained  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Lee  entered 
Congress  in  1787,  and  was  governor  of  Virginia 
between  the  years  1792  and  1795,  during  which 
he  commanded  the  expedition  against  the  "Whis- 
key insurgents  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  He 
sat  again  in  Congress  at  the  period  of  Washing- 
ton's death,  in  1799,  and,  being  appointed  by  that 
body  to  deliver  an  oration  upon  the  character  of 
the  deceased  first  President,  statesman,  and  war- 
rior, Lee  extolled  him  in  the  terms  of  the  since- 
famous  eulogy,  "First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

Henry  Lee's  virtues  and  character  have  been 
extolled  by  many  writers,  for  he  possessed  many 
of  those  admirable  qualities  of  head  and  heart 
which,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  were  manifested 
by  his  eminent  son.  His  children  had  a  great 
veneration,  as  well  as  affection,  for  him,  for  he 
was  an  excellent  and  kind  father,  a  most  exem- 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

plary  and,  considering  his  time,  a  highly  moral 
man,  and  an  ideal  type  of  a  self-sacrificing, 
patriotic  citizen.  He  was  twice  married,  first  to 
Matilda  Lee  (his  second  cousin),  daughter  of 
Philip  Ludwell  Lee  of  Stratford,  Va.,  and  when 
that  lady  died  he  was  united  to  Anne,  daughter  of 
Charles  H.  Carter  of  Shirley,  on  the  James  Kiver, 
'U  lady  who  proved  a  devoted  wife  and  mother, 
and  who  exercised  a  beneficent  influence  upon 
her  children.  The  latter  were  six  in  number, 
namely  two  daughters  and  four  sons  ;  several  of 
the  sons,  especially  Robert  Edward,  and  Sydney 
Smith  Lee,  afterwards  attaining  eminence  and 
distinction,  the  one  in  the  army,  and  the  other  in 
the  navy  of,  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The 
father,  Henry  Lee,  died  in  1818,  aged  63,  his  life 
having  been  shortened  by  injuries  received  in 
suppressing  a  political  riot  in  Baltimore  in  1814, 
when  the  house  in  which  he  was  at  the  time 
staying,  that  of  a  Federalist  editor  and  journalist, 
was  attacked  by  an  angry  mob.  The  next  four 
years  he  spent  in  the  West  Indies  in  the  search 
for  health.  A  biography  of  him,  by  his  distin- 
guished son,  General  Robert  E  Lee,  was  prefixed 
to  an  edition  of  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  (Revolu- 
tionary) War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the 
United  States."  The  work  has  an  interest  and 


16  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

value  even  to-day,  since  it  is  an  outspoken  and 
impartial  record  of  events,  based  on  the  personal 
experience  and  observation  of  a  contemporary 
narrator — those  of  "Light-Horse  Harry." 


CHAPTER  II. 

BIRTH,   YOUTHHOOD,  AND  EARLY  CAREER. 

HAVING  in  our  opening  chapter  introduced  the 
subject  of  this  Memoir  and  glanced  at  his  ancestry 
and  lineage,  let  us  now  record  his  birth  and  early 
upbringing,  together  with  such  facts  as  are  known 
of  his  professional  education  as  a  military  cadet 
and  of  the  characteristics  of  the  youth  as  he  ap- 
peared at  the  threshold  of  his  bright  and  prom- 
ising career.  The  era  of  Robert  E.  Lee's  birth, 
which  occurred  at  the  family  home  at  Stratford, 
Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  January  19, 
1807,  was  a  troubled  one,  even  for  a  neutral  nation 
in  the  New  World  that  had  cut  itself  adrift  from 
the  Old,  for  at  the  period  the  two  great  world  po- 
wers of  Europe,  France  and  Britain,  were  engaged 
in  an  armed  and  deadly  struggle  for  political  mas- 
tery and  commercial  dominance.  At  the  same  era, 
Denmark,  Spain,  Russia,  and  Prussia  were  for  a 
period  drawn  into  the  vortex;  while  bombard- 
ment, invasion,  and  pillage  were  the  national 
sport  and  burning  dread  of  the  time.  At  this 
grave  juncture  of  international  affairs,  Napo- 
*  17 


18  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

leon  was,  or  aimed  to  be,  supreme  on  the  European 
continent,  while  his  chief  adversary  and  check- 
mate were  the  British,  who  held  undisputed  sway 
on  the  high  seas.  Against  each  other,  in  the 
hotly-embraced  interest  of  commerce,  France  fired 
at  England  her  heavy-shafted  bolt  of  the  Berlin 
Decrees,  which  declared  the  British  islands  to  be 
"  in  a  state  of  blockade  "  ;  while  her  wary  though 
inveterate  enemy  retorted  with  the  British  Orders 
in  Council,  closing  to  neutral  commerce  the  ports 
of  the  continent  and  authorizing  the  seizure  of 
any  neutral  vessel  on  a  voyage  to  any  of  the  pro- 
hibited French  ports  unless  such  vessel  had  first 
touched  at  a  British  port.  France  rejoined  by 
authorizing,  in  the  Milan  Decree,  the  seizure  of 
any  vessel  that  had  entered  a  British  port.  In 
this  furious  international  strife,  America  soon  be- 
came a  sufferer,  since  the  prohibitory  decrees  and 
hostile  attitude  of  France  and  England  struck  a 
heavy  blow  at  her  carrying  trade,  and  led  to  the 
enactment  of  Jefferson's  Embargo  Policy,  for- 
bidding the  importation  of  goods  from  Britain  and 
her  colonies  and  banning  intercourse.  Another 
result  of  European  ferment  was  to  revive  the 
partly  slumbering  animosities  between  America 
and  the  old  motherland,  the  result  of  the  irritating 
and  humiliating  right  of  search  on  board  Ameri- 


BIRTH,  YOUTHHOOD,  AND  EARLY  CAREER,       19 

can  vessels  on  the  high  seas  and  the  arrest  or  im- 
pressment of  sailors,  naturalized  citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  had  renounced  their  allegiance 
to  Britain.  The  ill-feeling  and  strained  relations 
of  the  two  nations,  once  mother  and  child,  soon 
bore  fruit  in  the  unhappy  second  War  with  Eng- 
land—that of  1812-14. 

It  was  at  this  era  that  the  child  Robert  E.  Lee 
was  born,  an  era  of  unhappy  friction  between  the 
United  States  and  the  disowned  mother  country, 
rendered  more  so  as  the  result  of  fruitless  inter- 
national diplomacy,  irritating  retaliatory  legisla- 
tion, and  a  clashing  of  commercial  interests  which 
brought  about  a  period  of  non-intercourse,  and, 
finally,  a  state  of  war.  Within  the  country, 
nevertheless,  it  was  an  era  of  strenuous  political, 
industrial,  and  social  effort,  in  the  building  up, 
by  its  sturdy  nation-makers,  of  the  youthful 
American  Republic.  The  war,  costly  as  it  was  to 
the  young  nation  and  a  heavy  drain  upon  its  yet 
slender  financial  resources,  had  its  compensations, 
not  only  in  withdrawing  the  Republic  from  the 
complications  of  Old  World  politics,  but  in  impart- 
ing to  it  a  larger  measure  of  self-reliance  and  in- 
dependence, with  a  feeling  of  increased  pride  in 
the  successes,  on  land  and  lake,  of  her  militia  and 
marine  service.  It  also  quickened  the  spirit  of 


20  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

enterprise  over  the  country,  which  followed  the 
close  of  the  struggle,  and  did  much  to  cement  the 
Union  and  implant  in  the  heart  of  the  nation  love 
for  its  grand  heritage  and  faith  in  its  future 
mighty  destiny. 

Unfortunately  for  the  still  youthful  scion  of  the 
Lee  family,  he  early  lost  the  fostering  care  of  his 
father,  who,  when  the  boy  was  but  six  years  old, 
had  to  betake  himself  to  the  West  Indies  in  the 
endeavor  to  restore  his  shattered  health.  A 
father's  interest  in  and  love  for  the  lad  were  more 
than  compensated,  however,  by  the  devotion  and 
attachment  of  his  wise,  tender  mother,  whose  in- 
fluence upon  him  was  great,  and  to  his  lasting 
good.  It  was  she  who  instilled  in  his  youthful 
mind  those  high  moral  principles  and  that  in- 
tegrity and  rectitude  of  conduct  which  in  after- 
years  were  marked  traits  in  the  character  of  her 
eminent  son.  On  the  latter's  part,  there  was  a 
strong  reciprocal  attachment  and  fine  filial  feeling, 
which  showed  itself  in  a  loving  care  and  dutiful 
regard  and  solicitude.  The  need  for  this  was  the 
more  urgent,  as  the  self-sacrificing  mother  was  at 
this  period  much  alone,  her  husband  being  in  the 
tropics,  and  her  other  sons  were  absent  at  College  ; 
while  of  the  two  daughters  one  was  as  yet  quite 
young  and  the  other  was  in  indifferent  health. 


BIRTH,  YOUTHHOOD,  AND  EARLY  CAREER.      21 

Hence  Robert  was  the  one  child  to  whom  the  noble 
mother  looked  for  those  attentions  and  that  com- 
panionship which  were  a  comfort  to  her,  while  she 
watched  with  earnest  solicitude  his  careful  home- 
training  and  strove  to  embue  his  mind  with  sound 
religious  principles  and  inspire  him  with  high 
ideals  and  lofty  purposes  in  life. 
*  Previous  to  this,  or,  more  precisely,  when  Robert 
E.  Lee  was  but  four  years  old,  the  Lee  family  had 
removed  from  the  old  homestead  at  Stratford,  in 
Westmoreland  County  (near  the  birthplace  and 
early  home  of  George  Washington),  and  settled 
higher  up  the  Potomac  at  Alexandria,  six  miles 
South  of  the  Federal  capital.  The  city  at  this 
period  had,  like  the  city  of  Washington  itself,  for 
a  time  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  British  ;  and 
here,  near  by,  at  Arlington,  young  Lee  had  also 
associations  with  the  home  of  President  Washing- 
ton)rwhose  relative,  the  daughter  of  George  Wash- 
ington Parke  Custis,  he  was  afterwards  to  be 
allied  with  in  marriage.  ^  At  Alexandria  Academy 
young  Robert  received  his  early  education,  after- 
wards passing  to  a  more  advanced  institution  kept 
by  a  Quaker,  named  Hallowell,  who  has  left  on 
record  his  high  opinion  of  his  pupil  as  a  zealous 
student,  most  exemplary  in  his  conduct  and  habits. 
Throughout  his  school  career  he  gave  the  utmost 


OQ  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ma 

satisfaction  to  his  several  masters,  while  he  wa* 
popular  among  his  fellows,  being  manly  in  his 
bearing  and  attractive  in  his  mannersy 
~  In    the   Spring  of    1818,  his  father,   General 
Henry  Lee,  when  returning  from  the  West  Indies, 
had  to  be  put  ashore  on  the  coast  of  Georgia  as 
his  death  was  imminent.     He  died  at  "  Dunge- 
ness,"  the  home  of  a  daughter  of  his  old  friend, 
General  Nathanael  Greene,  while  his  son  Kobert 
was  but  in    his  twelfth  year.     The  death    of 
"Light-Horse    Harry,"    as    he    was   familiarly 
called,  was  much  and  widely  lamented,  and  at  his 
funeral  in  Georgia  military  and  naval  honors 
were  paid  to  his  remains  as  they  were  interred 
beneath  "the  magnolias,  cedars,  and  myrtles  of 
beautiful  Dungeness."    As  his  son  Robert  grew 
up  and  the  time  came  when  he  must  make  choice 
of  a  profession,  naturally  he  sought  to  follow  a 
militar}7  career,  like  his  distinguished  father,  the 
General.     His    brother,  Sydney  Smith  Lee,  had 
taken  to  the  navy,  and  was  already  beginning  to 
carve  out  his  own  career  in  that  profession  (later 
on,  he  was  known  as   Commodore  Lee  of  the 
Confederate  service  and  father  of  General  Fitz- 
hugh  Lee,  the  famous  cavalry  commander).     Ere 
long  Robert^succeeded  in  his  application  for  admit- 
tance to  the  United  States  Military  Academy,  and 


BIRTH,  YOUTHHOOD,  AND  EARLY  CAREER.       23 

that  famous  training  college  for  military  cadets 
at  West  Point,  he  entered  in  1825,  and  at  once  ap- 
plied himself  to  a  four  years'  course  of  drill  and 
hard  study,  taking  special  interest  in  engineering 
science,  with  its  accompanying  lectures  in 
strategy  and  tactics,  varied  by  guard-mounting 
and  cavalry  exercises.-  Here  his  excellent  char- 
acter, scrupulous  honor,  and  amenability  to  dis- 
cipline, coupled  with  his  studious  habits  and 
ambition  to  stand  high  in  his  class,  won  him  the 
respect  of  his  instructors  and  the  esteem  and  love 
of  his  fellow-cadets,  with  the  honor-post  of  adju- 
tant of  his  corps.  His  whole  course  at  West  Point 
was  that  of  a  talented  and  ambitious  youth  who 
had  high  aims  and  an  earnest  purpose  in  life,  and 
who  sought  to  attain  his  objects  by  a  preliminary 
career  which  should  be  marked  by  proficiency  in 
his  studies  and  an  attention  to  them,  as  well  as 
assiduity  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  which 
would  win  the  commendation  of  those  to  whom 
he  was  indebted  for  efficient  training  and  well- 
directed  instruction  and  counsel.  Throughout 
his  four  years'  course,  it  is  said,  that  he  never 
had  a  demerit  mark  placed  against  his  name  ; 
while  he  graduated  second  in  a  class  of  forty-six, 
and  at  once  received  a  commission  as  second  lieu- 
tenant in  the  corps  of  engineers. 


24;  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE, 

With  a  highly  creditable  standing  as  a  "  West- 
Pointer,"  Robert  E.  Lee,  after  a  brief  furlough, 
entered  actively  on  his  professional  career,  find- 
ing employment  for  several  years  in  duties,  en- 
thusiastically performed,  in  connection  with  the 
coast  defenses  of  the  United  States  at  Hampton 
Roads  and  elsewhere.  Society  at  that  era,  as 
well  as  now,  was  exceedingly  attractive  in  the 
city  of  Washington  and  its  vicinity  ;  and  to  the 
handsome  young  lieutenant  of  engineers  it  had 
its  charms,  for  he  was  well  fitted  to  shine  among 
the  elite  of  the  capital,  and  that  not  alone  for  his 
good  looks,  but  also  by  reason  of  his  superior 
education  and  fine  prospects  in  the  army,  not  to 
speak  of  his  high  birth  and  the  fair  repute  and 
heroic  traditions  of  his  family.  With  the  young 
matrons  and  belles  of  the  capital  and  its  adjoining 
city  of  Alexandria,  his  own  home,  Lieutenant  Lee 
was  much  made  of  ;  while  he  was  popular  among 
his  own  sex,  and  especially  among  the  knots  of 
military  men  always  to  be  found  at  the  salons 
of  Society  people  at  Washington  and  at  the 
manor-houses  in  the  neighborhood.  At  Arlington, 
the  home  of  the  Custis  family,  the  young  en- 
gineer lieutenant  was  at  the  period  particularly 
welcome,  for  he  had  long  known  and  admired  the 
beautiful  daughter  of  the  house,  Mary  Custis, 


BIRTH,  YOUTHHOOD,  AND  EARLY  CAREER.       25 

the  granddaughter  of  Martha  Washington  ;  and 
already  more  than  a  liking  for  each  other  had 
come  about,  which  was  soon  now  to  bring  both 
within  Hymen's  silken  bonds.  Only  two  years 
had  passed  since  Lee  had  graduated  at  West 
Point  and  received  his  commission  in  the  army  ; 
but  while  only  in  his  twenty-fifth  year  he  fell  into 
Cupid's  snares  and  succumbed  to  the  irresistible 
attractions  of  his  affianced  Mary  Custis.  Their 
marriage  speedily  followed,  the  ceremony  taking 
place  within  the  stately  mansion  of  Arlington 
House,  replete  as  it  was  with  historic  interest  and 
attractive  by  its  traditions  of  Washington  and  his 
fellow-patriots  of  Revolutionary  days.  Through 
his  marriage,  which  was  solemnized  June  30, 1831, 
Lee  with  his  wife  subsequently  became  owners 
of  Arlington,  as  well  as  of  another  property 
belonging  to  the  Custis  family  on  the  Pamun- 
key  River,  where  Washington,  in  1Y59,  married 
'  the  widow  Custis ' — a  property  that  was  ruth- 
lessly given  to  the  flames  by  the  Federal  troops  in 
the  Civil  War. 

After  a  brief  honeymoon,  Lee  returned  to  his 
army  duties  at  Hamptcn  Roads,  but  ere  long  was 
transferred  to  Washington,  where  he  became 
assistant  to  the  chief  government  engineer,  and 
was  consequently  near  to  his  bride  and  her  pater- 


26  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

nal  home  at  Arlington.  Promotion  here  came  to 
him,  first  to  a  full  lieutenancy  and  afterwards  to 
a  captaincy  in  the  corps  of  engineers.  After  this, 
he  acted  for  a  time  as  astronomer  to  a  commis- 
sion appointed  to  define  the  boundary  between 
the  States  of  Ohio  and  Michigan  ;  and  then  was 
despatched  to  St.  Louis  to  engage  actively  in  pro- 
fessional work  in  connection  with  the  channel  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  so  as  to  obviate  its  over- 
flowing its  bounds  on  the  side  opposite  St.  Louis, 
as  well  as  to  recover  waste  lands  on  its  borders 
which  at  periods  had  been  subject  to  inundation. 
Indefatigable  as  well  as  professionally  successful 
in  his  work.  Lee  rendered  admirable  service  in 
improving  the  legitimate  bed  of  the  great 
river  and  in  artificially  confining  "  the  Father  of 
Waters"  to  its  natural  and  desirable  course. 
When  this  important  task  had  been  accomplished, 
he  was  despatched  to  New  York  to  strengthen 
the  defenses  of  Fort  Hamilton,  which  protects  the 
entrance  to  the  spacious  harbor  of  the  city  ;  while 
recognition  of  his  merits  otherwise  came  to  him 
in  being  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Visi- 
tors at  West  Point  and  appointed  one  of  the 
Board  of  Engineers,  at  his  professional  alma 
mater. 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 

AT  this  period  of  his  career,  when  he  was  ap- 
proaching his  fortieth  year,  the  War  with  Mexico 
broke  out,  precipitated  by  the  independence  of 
Texas,  and  its  subsequent  admission  as  a  State 
of  the  Union.  Besides  the  local  attitude  of  Texas, 
matters  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States 
were  complicated  by  the  Washington  adminis- 
tration insisting  that  the  Southwestern  boundary 
of  Texas  should  be  the  Rio  Grande.  This  was  in 
the  year  1846,  when  the  War  Department  of  the 
United  States  appointed  General  Winfield  Scott 
to  the  supreme  command  of  an  expedition  de- 
signed to  operate  in  Mexican  territory,  and,  if 
deemed  expedient,  invest  and  lay  siege  to  Vera 
Cruz,  thus  opening  the  way  for  an  advance  upon 
the  city  of  Mexico.  Previous  to  this,  General 
Zachary  Taylor,  with  an  American  force,  had 
appeared  at  Corpus  Christi,  Texas,  and  there, 
having  increased  his  army,  he  was  ordered  to 
advance  to  the  Rio  Grande,  which  he  did  and 

27 


28  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

erected  a  fort  on  the  river  opposite  Matamoros, 
with  his  base  of  supplies  twenty-five  miles  east- 
ward at  Point  Isabel.  Here  the  Mexican  general 
(Ampudia)  ordered  Taylor  to  withdraw  beyond 
the  Neuces  river,  as  he  and  his  American  troops 
were  then  on  Mexican  territory.  This  Taylor 
refused  to  do,  but  proceeded  with  his  operations 
in  the  region,  when  the  battles  of  Palo  Alta  and 
Resaca  de  la  Palma  were  fought  and  won  ;  while, 
later  on,  Monterey,  after  some  resistance,  capitu- 
lated. General  S.  W.  Kearny,  meanwhile,  at 
the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  West,  had  advanced 
from  Fort  Leavenworth  and  made  conquest  of 
the  province  of  New  Mexico,  and  at  Santa  Fe,  in 
August,  1846,  he  established  a  provisional  Ameri- 
can government,  subsequently  proceeding  to 
California.  The  latter  country,  by  this  time,  had 
practically  been  annexed,  partly  by  means  of  the 
exploring  expedition  of  Colonel  Fremont,  and 
partly  by  the  joint  operations  of  Commodores 
Sloat  and  Stockton.  In  1848,  peaceful  cession  of 
the  territory  came  about,  aided  by  the  influx  of 
myriads  of  gold-seekers,  known  as  the  "  forty- 
niners  ; "  and  California,  in  1850,  was  lost  to 
Mexico  and  gained  as  a  State  of  the  American 
Union. 
But  Jet  us  now  return  to  General  Winfield 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAB.  29 

Scott  and  the  chief  command  that  had  been  given 
him  to  conduct  an  expedition  to  invade  Mexico,  by 
way  of  the  Gulf,  effecting  a  landing  at  or  near 
Vera  Cruz.  This  inroad  directly  upon  the  enemy, 
with  the  design  of  assaulting  and  capturing  the 
chief  Mexican  towns,  including  the  capital,  was 
undertaken  with  the  view  of  bringing  Santa 
Anna's  Administration  and  the  Republic  of  the 
Mexican  States  to  terms,  after  precipitating  war 
upon  American  arms,  as  it  was  construed  by 
President  Folk's  government,  though  history 
views  the  matter  more  in  the  light  of  an  unjusti- 
fiable aggression  upon  a  weak  sister  nation  of 
the  continent.  Be  this  as  it  may  or  may  not, 
General  Scott  had  been  given  his  orders,  which 
were  to  proceed  to  Vera  Cruz,  where  with  his  own 
forces  and  part  of  those  under  General  Kearny 
he  was  to  invest  the  town,  take  it,  and  proceed  to 
the  interior  to  reduce  the  Mexicans  to  submission. 
Here  was  now  to  become  the  real,  as  it  was  to  be 
the  chief,  seat  of  war ;  and  for  its  successful  ex- 
ploitation General  Scott  had  brought  with  him  a 
strong  contingent  of  engineers  and  artillery,  in 
addition  to  his  cavalry  and  foot-soldiers.  The 
divisional  commands  of  the  invading  army  were 
intrusted,  under  the  Commander-in-chief,  to  Gen- 
erals Twiggs,  Worth,  and  Quitman  ;  while  several 


30  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

able  engineer  officers  directed  the  assaulting  opera- 
tions, among  whom  were  Colonel  Totten,  Lieu- 
tenant Beauregard,  and  our  hero,  Captain  Robert 
E.  Lee,  who  had  the  honor  of  being  placed  on  the 
Commander-in-chief's  personal  staff. 

When  General  Scott  had  been  assigned  the  task 
of  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  war,  and  before 
the  landing  of  his  forces,  by  means  of  surf  boats,  a 
little  to  the  south  of  Vera  Cruz.  Captain  Lee  ap- 
pears to  have  been  for  a  time  attached  to  General  J. 
E.  Wool's  command,  which  had  penetrated  Mexico 
from  San  Antonia,  across  the  Eio  Grande,  as  far 
as  Saltillo,  to  the  West  of  Tampico.  This  seems 
to  have  been  the  case,  for  we  find  him  writing  to 
his  wife  from  Rio  Grande  early  in  October,  1846, 
and  to  two  of  his  boys  from  Saltillo  on  the  day 
before  Christmas.  Presumably,  therefore,  he 
was  with  Wool's;  contingent  .at  the  battle  of 
Buena  Vista  (Feb.  22,  1847)  at  the  critical  period 
in  that  hot  but  successful  engagement  with  the 
Mexicans  when  Wool  was  joined  by  the  force 
under  General  Zachary  Taylor  ("Old  Rough  and 
Ready "  as  the  latter  was  familiarly  called). 
Later  on  we  know,  however,  he  was  summoned 
by  General  Scott  to  Vera  Cruz,  where  he  became 
one  of  the  Commander  in-chief's  war  council,  and, 
as  we  have  already  related,  a  member  of  his  per- 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  31 

sonal  staff.  There,  at  Vera  Cruz,  lie  was  joined 
for  a  time  by  his  brother,  Sydney,  a  lieutenant 
in  the  United  States  navy,  then  serving  on  the 
"Mississippi,"  one  of  the  cruiser  convoys  of  the 
invading  force  under  Winfield  Scott.  We  know 
also  that  this  brother  was  with  Captain  R.  E.  Lee, 
for  we  find  him  serving  one  of  the  guns  directed 
against  the  defenses  of  Vera  Cruz  from  a  battery 
his  brother  Robert  had  constructed  to  play  upon 
the  town  preparatory  to  assaulting  it.  The  period 
was  about  the  22nd  of  March,  1847,  for  on  that 
day  the  bombardment  commenced  and  continued 
for  five  days,  when,  after  a  spirited  defense,  the 
city  and  the  fortified  Castle  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa, 
in  the  harbor  of  Vera  Cruz,  capitulated.  Lee 
rendered  admirable  service  in  the  investment 
and  assault  upon  the  place,  and  was  specially 
mentioned  for  distinguished  acts  in  General 
Scott's  despatches  to  Washington  recounting  the 
operations  and  successful  issue  of  the  siege. 

At  this  period  of  American  invasion,  Mexico, 
both  politically  and  socially,  was  in  a  distracted 
and  unsettled  condition.  Before  and  after  the  era 
of  her  independence  of  Spain,  which  she  secured 
in  1820,  it  had  been  given  up,  more  or  less,  to 
chronic  revolution.  At  present,  the  Creole  gen- 
eral, Santa  Anna,  who  had  wrecked  the  military 


32  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

empire  of  Iturbide,  was  the  dictator  of  the  amal- 
i  gam  of  States  which  now  represented  the  once 
1  mighty  empire  of  Montezuma  and  what  remained 
/of  the  historic  Spanish  Conquest.  The  country 
'  was  in  a  parlous  state,  with  disorganization  and 
conflict  going  on  in  almost  every  section  of  the 
Republic.  It  had,  however,  purged  itself  of  the 
taint  of  slavery  by  decrees  issued  in  1827,  and 
again  and  finally,  in  1837.  Against  American  in- 
vasion it  was  naturally  opposed,  believing  that  the 
United  States  had  no  righteous  claim  to  the  terri- 
tory in  Texas  lying  to  the  south  of  the  deuces, 
and  therefore  it  resisted  Zachary  Taylor's  taking 
possession  of  the  region  for  the  American  Govern- 
ment southward  to  the  Rio  Grande.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  Mexican  troops  under  Arista  were  re- 
peatedly defeated  in  opposing  Taylor's  aggression, 
and  had  also  been  worsted  on  her  own  unques- 
tioned side  of  the  Rio.  The  Mexicans  had  now 
fallen  back  successively,  but  still  sought  to  main- 
tain resistance  to  American  arms.  Of  General 
Scott's  campaign,  so  far  as  undertaken,  we  have 
also  seen  the  result,  in  the  surrender  of  Vera 
Cruz,  with  the  capitulation  of  its  defensive  force 
and  its  seven  thousand  inhabitants.  Now  this 
forward  movement  was  about  to  be  launched, 
over  some  two  hundred  miles  of  difficult  country, 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  33 

to  the  Mexican  capital.  It  was  the  middle  of 
April  (1847)  before  the  expedition  was  in  shape  to 
proceed,  and  when  it  did,  it  met  its  first  serious 
obstacle  at  Cerro  Gordo,  fifty  miles  northwest  of 
Vera  Cruz.  Here  Santa  Anna  and  his  Mexicans 
had  posted  themselves  in  a  strong  position  on  "  the 
heights  around  a  rugged  mountain  pass,  with  a 
battery  commanding  every  turn  of  the  road." 

To  the  reconnoissance  of  Captain  Lee  and  Lieu- 
tenant Beauregard,  both  of  the  Engineers  corps, 
Winfield  Scott  was  indebted  for  discovering  a 
pathway,  which  a  little  engineering  effort  made 
practicable,  for  a  flank  attack  upon  the  enemy. 
Over  this  route  light  batteries  were  hauled  and 
placed  in  position  for  effective  work  ;  while  Gen- 
eral Twiggs'  division,  led  by  Captain  Lee,  ad- 
vanced and  opened  a  fusilade  which  drove  the 
outposts  of  the  Mexicans  from  the  ravine  back 
upon  the  hill  slopes  of  Cerro  Gordo.  This  prelim- 
inary achievement  was  effected  over  night,  and 
in  the  early  morning  of  the  18th  of  April  the 
batteries  opened  a  destructive  fire,  and  three  col- 
umns of  American  troops  gallantly  advanced, 
while  the  fighting  divisions  of  Generals  Twiggs 
and  Worth  stormed  the  heights  in  front,  and,  in 
spite  of  a  stout  resistance,  finally  carried  them, 
though  at  the  cost  of  much  bloodshed.  Lee,  per- 


34  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

sonally  leading  a  column  of  men,  now  stole  off 
to  turn  the  enemy's  left,  which  he  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  doing,  the  Mexicans  taking  to  flight 
down  the  Jalapa  road,  leaving  behind  them  not 
only  their  dead,  but  much  of  their  ammunition, 
small  arms,  and  cannon.  Our  troops  continued 
to  press  the  enemy  back,  to  Jalapa,  making  an 
ascent  above  the  valley  road  during  the  day  of 
over  4,000  feet,  meanwhile  capturing  many  of 
Santa  Anna's  men. 

For  Lee's  share  in  the  successes  of  the  day, 
General  Scott  paid  suitable  and  hearty  acknowl- 
edgment, besides  raising  him  to  the  brevet  rank 
of  major.  His  skill  as  an  engineer  enabled  him 
to  be  of  much  and  varied  service  to  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief during  the  progress  of  the  cam- 
paign ;  while  he  was  also  highly  useful  in  expe- 
rienced scouting  work,  in  which  his  bravery  and 
venturesomeness  at  times  led  him  into  no  little 
personal  peril.  This  was  the  case  shortly  after  the 
victory  at  Cerro  Gordo,  when  on  a  reconnoissance 
in  advance  of  the  army  he  escaped  Mexican 
vigilance  only  by  concealing  himself  all  one  after- 
noon under  a  fallen  tree,  until  nightfall  enabled 
him  to  issue  from  his  hiding-place  and  regain 
the  outposts  of  the  invading  force.  A  like  hero- 
ism and  disregard  of  himself  characterized  Major 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  35 

Lee  at  both  Churubusco  and  Contreras,  where, 
for  his  distinguished  services  he  received  a  further 
step  in  the  line  of  promotion,  this  time  to  the 
brevet  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  Almost  con- 
stantly in  the  saddle,  he  was  not  only  actively 
occupied  in  his  own  important  duties  as  an  en- 
gineer officer  and  counsellor  to  his  Commander- 
in-chief  in  the  difficulties  that  lay  in  the  path  of 
the  advance,  but  he  was  also  of  much  service, 
when  a  battle  was  on,  in  carrying  General  Scott's 
orders  to  sections  of  his  command,  even  at  much 
peril  to  himself.  In  the  interesting  Memoir  of 
Lee  by  his  nephew,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  the  renowned 
cavalry  commander,  Major  Lee's  distinguished 
services  in  this  Mexican  campaign  are  thus  at- 
tested :  "  His  deeds  of  personal  daring,  his 
scientific  counsels,  his  coup  d 'ceil  of  the  battle- 
field, his  close  personal  reconnoissances  under 
the  scorching  rays  of  a  tropical  sun,  amid  the 
lighting's  flash  or  thunder's  roar,  did  much  tc 
fashion  the  key  which  unlocked  the  gates  of  the 
Golden  City.  The  reports  of  his  commander  are 
filled  with  commendations  of  his  bravery  :  '  That 
he  was  as  famous  for  felicitous  execution  as  for 
science  and  daring ' ;  that  at '  Chapultepec  Captain 
Lee  was  constantly  conspicuous,  bearing  import- 
ait  orders  '  from  him,  *  till  he  fainted  from  a 


36  LIFE  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

wound  and  the  loss  of  two  nights'  sleep  at  the 
batteries.'  This  veteran  general,"  Fitzhugh 
Lee  adds,  "in  referring  afterward  to  this  cam- 
paign, was  heard  to  say  that  his  '  success  in  Mex- 
ico was  largely  due  to  the  skill,  valor,  and  un- 
daunted courage  of  Robert  E.  Lee,'  and  that  he 
was  '  the  greatest  military  genius  in  America,  the 
best  soldier  that  he  ever  saw  in  the  field,  and  that, 
if  opportunity  offered,  he  would  show  himself  the 
foremost  captain  of  his  time.' ' 

We  are,  however,  anticipating,  for  there  is 
considerable  yet  to  be  told  of  the  incidents  of  the 
campaign  ere  the  Mexican  capital  was  taken  and 
the  unhappy  war  brought  to  a  close.  When  the 
Mexicans  fell  back  on  Jalapa,  Scott's  command 
followed  the  enemy  up,  drove  them  out  of  the 
place,  and  pushed  on  and  occupied  Puebla.  Here 
a  halt  of  two  months  took  place,  to  enable  the 
American  force,  exhausted  by  the  rapid  advance 
during  the  hottest  months  of  the  year,  to  pull  it- 
self together,  await  reinforcements  from  the 
coast,  drill  and  make  them  efficient  when  they  ar- 
rived. On  August  7th,  the  forward  movement 
again  began,  and  by  the  19th  and  20th  of  the 
month  three  stubbornly  fought  battles  took  place, 
parts  of  one  general  encounter  with  the  enemy, 
namely  those  of  Contreras,  Churubusco,  and  Sa^ 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  37 

Antonio.  The  issue  of  each  engagement  was  the 
same — the  rout  of  the  Mexicans,  and  their  rear- 
ward flight  even  to  the  gates  of  the  capital.  At 
this  juncture,  an  armistice  was  mutually  agreed 
upon,  to  permit  the  negotiations  of  the  American 
commissioner,  Nicholas  P.  Trist,  who  was  in- 
structed to  offer  the  Mexicans  peace  upon  certain 
conditions  before  further  blood  was  shed  in  the 
alternative  assault  upon  the  City  of  Mexico.  The 
armistice,  however,  came  to  nought,  and  tacti- 
cally was  a  maladroit  proposal  :  it  lasted  from 
August  23rd  to  September  7th.  On  the  latter 
day  the  fighting  was  resumed,  Molino  del  Rey 
being  then  attacked  and  carried  by  assault,  while 
Santa  Anna  and  his  troops  fled  from  the  place. 
By  the  12th  of  the  month,  the  struggle  was  re- 
newed by  the  American  batteries  opening  fire 
upon  the  stronghold  of  Chapultepec,  and  by  an 
assault  upon  the  place  by  Scott's  combined  force, 
which  met  with  a  desperate  and  bloody  resist- 
ance. Finally,  the  place  was  stormed  by  a  plucky 
dash,  when  the  Mexicans  became  panic-stricken, 
abandoned  their  defensive  works,  and  fled  in  con- 
fusion. 

It  was  here,  at  Chapultepec,  that  Lee  was 
wounded,  though  fortunately  not  very  seriously. 
In  the  campaign,  other  of  his  Southern  brother- 


3g  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

officers  suffered  also  from  casualties  in  the  field 
among  them  being  Joseph  E.  Johnston  (later  OD 
the  renowned  Confederate  commander),  Long- 
street,  Magruder,  General  Shields,  Captain  Mason, 
and  others.  The  Mexican  war,  indeed,  was  an 
excellent  active  training-school  to  numbers  of 
men  who,  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  were  to 
become  distinguished  under  both  the  Federal  and 
the  Confederate  flag.  Of  these,  besides  Robert 
E.  Lee,  the  following  were  among  the  Mexican 
campaigners  :  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston,  Joseph  Hooker,  Braxton  Bragg,  Jubal 
Early,  George  Gordon  Meade,  George  B.  Mo 
Clellan,  Irvin  McDowell,  George  H.  Thomas, 
Gideon  J.  Pillow,  Ambrose  P.  Hill,  T.  J.  ("Stone- 
wall ")  Jackson.  "  Their  swords,  then  drawn  for 
victory  against  a  common  foe,"  as  Fitzhugh  Lee 
admirably  puts  it,  were,  fourteen  years  later, 
"  to  be  pointed  against  each  other's  breast,  and 
those  who  slept  beneath  the  same  blanket,  drank 
from  the  same  canteen,  and  formed  those  ties 
of  steel  which  are  strongest  when  pledged  amid 
common  dangers  around  a  common  mess-table, 
were  to  be  marshalled  under  the  banners  of 
opposing  armies. 

What   the  common   dangers  in  the  Mexican 
war  then  were,  Lee  himself  relates  with  pathos 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  39 

and  fine  humane  feeling,  in  letters  sent  at  this 
time  to  his  home,  either  to  his  loved  wife  or 
to  their  little  sons,  in  safe-keeping  at  Arlington. 
In  these  we  see  something  of  the  man's  tender, 
yet  stout,  courageous  heart,  when  thoughts  of 
the  dear  ones  he  has  left  behind  him  come  recur- 
ringly  to  his  mind.  Of  these  epistles  his  relative 
biographer  gives  us  some  touching  excerpts  from  a 
letter  written  to  his  young  son,  Custis  Lee,  after 
the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo  :  "  I  thought  of  you," 
writes  the  father,  "  on  the  18th,  in  the  battle, 
and  wondered,  when  the  musket-balls  and  grape- 
shot  were  whistling  over  my  head  in  a  perfect 
shower,  where  I  could  put  you,  if  with  me,  to  be 
safe.  I  was  truly  thankful  that  you  were  at 
school,  I  hope  learning  to  be  good  and  wise. 
You  have  no  idea  what  a  horrible  sight  a  battle- 
field is."  The  writer  then  describes  to  him 
the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  and  tells  him  about 
the  dead  and  dying  Mexicans  ;  how  he  had  them 
carried  to  a  house  by  the  roadside,  where  they 
were  attended  by  Mexican  surgeons  ;  of  his  find- 
ing by  the  side  of  a  hut  a  little  Mexican  boy  who 
had  been  a  bugler  or  a  drummer,  with  his  arm 
terribly  shattered,  and  how  a  big  Mexican  sol- 
dier, in  the  last  agonies  of  death,  had  fallen  on 
him  ;  how  he  was  attracted  $o  the  sceiae  by  the 


40  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

grief  of  a  little  girl  ;  how  he  had  the  dying  Mexi- 
can taken  off  the  boy,  and  how  grateful  the  little 
girl  was.  * '  Her  large  black  eyes, "  he  said,  *  *  were 
streaming  with  tears,  her  hands  crossed  over  her 
breast ;  her  hair  in  one  long  plait  behind  reached 
her  waist,  her  shoulders  and  arms  bare,  and  with- 
out stockings  or  shoes.  Her  plaintive  tone  of 
'Mille  gracias,  Signor,'  as  I  had  the  dying  man 
lifted  off  the  boy  and  both  carried  to  the  hospital, 
still  lingers  in  my  ear.  After  I  had  broken 
away  through  the  chaparral  and  turned  to- 
ward Cerro  Gordo  I  mounted  Creole,  who  stepped 
over  the  dead  men  with  such  care  as  if  she  feared 
to  hurt  them  ;  but  when  I  started  with  the 
dragoons  in  the  pursuit,  she  was  as  fierce  as  pos- 
sible, and  I  could  hardly  hold  her." 

Nor  was  Robert  E.  Lee  less  courageous  than 
tender  and  humane,  as  we  learn  from  General 
Winfield  Scott's  own  account  in  his  despatches 
to  Washington,  or  in  after-reminiscences  of  the 
war  by  some  of  his  contemporary  staff  officers  in 
the  campaign.  One  of  the  latter  recounts  Lee's 
daring  in  an  action  preceding  the  battle  of  Con- 
treras,  "  when  General  Scott's  troops  had  become 
separated  on  the  field  of  Pedrigal,  and  it  was  nec- 
essary to  communicate  instructions  to  those  on  the 
other  side  of  the  barrier  of  rockg  and  lava."  At 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR  41 

this  crisis,  General  Scott,  as  set  forth  in  .his  re- 
port, states  that  he  had  sent  seven  officers  after 
sundown  to  give  them  their  instructions,  but  all 
returned  without  getting  through,  save  the  gal- 
lant and  indefatigable  Captain  Lee  of  the  Engi- 
neers, who  has  been  constantly  with  the  operating 
forces.  .  .  Subsequently  Scott  (to  quote  again 
from  his  biographer),  while  giving  testimony  be- 
fore a  court  of  inquiry  said  :  "  Captain  Lee 
came  to  me  from  Contreras  with  a  message  from 
Brigadier-General  Smith.  I  think  about  the 
same  time  (midnight)  he,  having  passed  over  the 
difficult  ground  by  daylight,  found  it  just  possible 
to  return  on  foot  and  alone  to  St.  Augustine  in 
the  dark,  the  greatest  feat  of  physical  and  moral 
courage  performed  by  any  individual  to  my 
knowledge  during  the  campaign." 

The  successful  close  of  the  war  was  hailed  by 
all  with  feelings  of  relief  :  this  was  especially  the 
case  with  Colonel  Lee,  and  indeed  with  the  entire 
command  under  General  Scott  and  his  divisional 
commanders.  After  the  brilliant  assault  on  Cha- 
pultepec  and  the  overpowering  of  the  enemy  at  the 
gates  of  the  capital,  the  City  of  Mexico  was  en- 
tered and  taken  possession  of.  Before  its  official 
surrender,  Santa  Anna  and  the  chief  civic  au- 
thorities had  fled  from  the  place ;  but  represents.- 


42  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

lives  of  the  Eepublic  were  there,  with  whom  the 
American  Commissioner  arranged  the  terms  upon 
which  the  war  was  to  close  and  the  country  be 
relieved  of  its  conquering  invaders.  After  some 
haggling,  peace  was  finally  declared,  and  the 
American  troops,  in  due  course,  withdrew,  the 
military  power  of  Mexico  having  in  the  war 
been  broken  as  well  as  humiliated.  By  the  Peace 
Treaty,  which  was  negotiated  at  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo,  Feb.  2,  1848,  subsequently  ratified  by 
both  sides,  the  United  States  secured  the  rights 
contended  for  to  the  southwestern  territory  of 
Texas  as  far  as  the  Kio  Grande.  The  Treaty, 
moreover,  added  New  Mexico  and  California  to 
the  national  domain  ;  though  a  monetary  com- 
pensation therefor  was  to  be  paid  to  Mexico,  of 
fifteen  million  dollars,  while  the  United  States 
assumed  the  claims  of  her  citizens  against  the  Ee- 
public, who  had  suffered  in  the  war,  to  the  ex- 
tent of  three  and  a  half  millions  more. 

It  was  toward  the  end  of  May  (1848)  before 
Colonel  Lee  was  free  to  leave  the  City  of  Mexico 
to  return  homeward,  though  a  month  later  he  was 
rejoiced  once  more  to  be  at  Arlington  and  in  the 
bosom  of  his  family.  Public  recognition  of  his  ser- 
vices in  Mexico  came  later,  in  1852,  when,  after  the 
resumption  of  his  professional  work  on  the  Gov- 


IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  43 

eminent  defenses  at  Baltimore,  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point.  General  Winfield  Scott,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  an  attached  and  ad  miring  friend 
of  Lee,  was,  on  the  other  hand,  somewhat  scurvily 
treated  by  the  War  Department.  Owing  to  some 
difficulty  with  a  subordinate  general  officer  in 
Mexico,  he  had  to  submit  to  the  annoyance  of  a 
General  Court  of  Inquiry.  Congress,  meanwhile, 
applied  a  solatium  to  the  wounded  feelings  of  the 
old  veteran  by  awarding  him  a  gold  medal  and 
the  thanks  of  the  Legislature.  Later,  the  authori- 
ties made  amends  to  the  old  warrior  by  raising 
him  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-General,  the  first 
creation  of  that  high  titular  office  in  the  United 
States  army.  General  Zachary  Taylor,  the  hero 
of  Buena  Vista  and  of  a  long  list  of  earlier 
triumphs,  fared  better,  having  on  his  return  from 
the  Valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  received  the  thanks 
of  Congress,  accompanied  by  a  gold  medal ;  while 
his  popularity  in  the  nation  gained  him  the  nom- 
ination, on  the  Whig  ticket,  of  the  Presidency. 
His  inauguration  to  that  elevated  office  took  place 
Mar.  4,  1849,  though  his  death  unhappily  occurred 
July  9th  in  the  following  year. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   INTERVAL   BETWEEN  THE  MEXICAN   WAR  AND 
THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 

COLONEL  LEE,  in  1852,  entered  actively  on  his 
duties  as  head  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point,  from  which  he  had  himself  so  credit- 
ably graduated  in  1829.  At  this  period,  his  eldest 
son,  G.  W.  Custis  Lee,  was  a  pupil  of  the  institu- 
tion, and,  like  his  father  before  him,  stood  high 
in  his  class  and  graduated  two  years  later  as 
cadet-adjutant,  also  following  the  paternal  bent, 
of  choosing  to  serve  in  the  Engineers.  Colonel 
Lee's  administration  of  the  Academy  lasted  for 
three  years,  and,  like  everything  he  did,  it  was 
characterized  by  efficiency  and  ability.  He  had 
ever  a  high  sense  of  duty,  and  was  assiduous  in 
inculating  it  not  only  in  his  sons,  but  in  all  who 
were  at  any  time  subordinate  to  him.  On  his  re- 
tirement from  the  superintendency  of  the  Acad- 
emy, Lee  was  assigned  to  the  Cavalry  branch  of 
the  U.  S.  military  service,  two  new  Cavalry  regi- 
ments having  just  then  been  raised  for  duty  in  the 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  45 

West,  to  give  increased  military  protection  in 
that  section,  where  settlement  was  fast  making 
inroads,  and  where,  in  Kansas  and  Texas  espe- 
cially, there  was  at  the  time  considerable  men- 
ace from  marauding  bands  of  Indians  under  the 
Comanche  chief  Catumseh.  Though  hitherto 
an  Engineer  officer  of  eminence,  he  took  kindly  to 
the  Cavalry  service  ;  nevertheless,  he  withdrew 
from  his  own  particular  branch  of  the  profession 
of  arms,  in  which  he  had  greatly  distinguished 
himself,  with  regret.  Moreover,  he  was  fond  of 
horses  and  much  accustomed  to  be  in  the  saddle  ; 
while  many  from  his  own  State  and  section  of  the 
country  were  entering  the  Cavalry  service,  after- 
wards to  gain  distinction  in  it  as  Confederate 
commanders.  One  of  these  was  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston,  who  was  given  the  colonelcy  of  the 
second  Cavalry  corps,  while  Colonel  Lee  was  ap- 
pointed Lieutenant-Colonel.  The  destination  of  the 
corps  was  Western  Texas  ;  and  thither  the  regi- 
ment went,  after  Colonel  Johnston  had  established 
his  headquarters  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  where  Lt.-Col. 
Lee  joined  it,  proceeding  later  to  Jefferson  Bar- 
racks, Missouri,  thence  to  active  duty  in  Texas. 

Before  reaching  Texas,  Lt.-Col.  Lee  was  detailed 
for  service  on  a  court-martial  in  Kansas,  the 
occasion  being  the  trial  of  an  assistant  army 


46  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

surgeon  who  had  left  his  station  during  the  prev- 
alence of  an  alarming  epidemic.  On  rejoining 
the  regiment  in  Texas,  the  latter  became  broken 
into  detachments,  ordered  for  duty  over  a  far- 
reaching  area.  This  was  rendered  necessary  by 
the  wide  stretch  of  frontier  the  regiment  had 
then  to  guard,  there  being  as  yet  few  towns  and 
no  railways  in  the  Territory.  Parts  of  it  were 
scattered  over  the  region  from  the  Rio  Grande 
far  to  the  north-westward,  Lee  himself  doing  duty 
at  one  time  at  Ringgold  Barracks,  at  another  at 
Camp  Cooper,  on  one  of  the  forks  of  the  Brazos 
Eiver,  and  at  still  another  at  Fort  Brown.  His  life 
at  this  time  could  not  have  been  much  to  his  liking, 
for  the  region  was  still  in  the  rough,  and  regiment- 
al officers  of  Lee's  standing  and  eminence,  cut  off 
to  a  large  extent  as  they  were  from  the  comforts 
and  elegancies  they  had  at  home  been  accustomed 
to,  could  find  little  to  compensate,  and  less  to 
interest,  them  in  a  country  yet  in  the  wild  state  ; 
where  the  United  States  mails  had  to  be  trans- 
ported from  post  to  post  by  armed  soldiers  on 
mules,  often  over  long  strips  of  dreary,  unin- 
habited country.  Nor  was  there  any  active  duty 
worthy  of  their  prowess.  All  there  was  consisted, 
for  the  most  part,  of  scouting  duty,  performed 
amid  much  discomfort  and  frequent  sickness,  when 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  47 

the  stations  were  unhealthy,  and  occasionally  in 
no  little  peril  from  the  poisoned  arrows  of 
treacherous  Indians  shot  at  them  from  ambush. 

The  life  was  now  and  then  varied  by  visits  to 
dirty  Indian  camps,  for  a  parley  with  their  chiefs, 
who  it  was  often  found,  however,  were  fine 
specimens  of  nature's  children  and  magnificent 
horsemen,  their  nomadic  life  making  them 
"  active,  vigilant,  and  a  foe  not  to  be  despised." 

While  Lee  was  in  the  West,  he  naturally  main- 
tained  a  regular  and  affectionate  correspondence 
with  his  family  at  Arlington,  and  longed  often 
to  be  back  to  them  and  to  civilization.  At  this 
period,  the  autumn  of  1857,  the  death  of  his 
father-in-law,  Mr.  Custis,  recalled  him  for  a  time 
to  his  home.  The  latter's  wife  had  predeceased 
him  ;  and  now  with  his  own  death  the  Arlington 
House  estate  came  into  the  possession  of  Colonel 
Lee's  wife,  Mary  Custis  Lee,  together  with  the 
Arlington  heirlooms  and  family  plate.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  fine  historic  property  was  ere  long 
now  to  be  lost  to  the  Lees,  in  the  calamitous  out- 
break of  the  civil  war,  while  the  family  slaves 
were  given  their  freedom  by  the  good-will  and 
humanity  of  their  fond  master  and  mistress. 
That  the  sectional  struggle,  now  about  to  ensue, 
was  foreseen  by  Lee  and  by  all  thoughtful  observ- 


48  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ers  need  hardly  be  said.  Though  Lee  personally 
took  no  part  in  politics,  he  could  not  be,  nor  was 
he,  ignorant  of  the  sectional  strife  by  which  it  was 
preceded  ;  still  less  was  he  indifferent  to  the  out- 
break of  the  calamity,  dreadful  as  it  was  sure  to 
be  to  the  antagonists  on  either  side. 

Already  the  Federal  tie  which  had  bound  the 
States  in  one  family  since  the  Revolution  was 
loosening,  owing  to  the  growing  abolition  senti- 
ment in  the  North,  which,  on  conscientious  moral 
grounds,  as  well  as  from  the  fact  that  she  was  an 
industrial  and  commercial  community,  was  op- 
posed to  slavery  in  the  South  (an  agricultural  and 
cotton-growing  section)  and  to  its  extension  in  the 
new  states  and  territories  of  the  Union.  The 
anti-slavery  sentiment  was  resented  by  the  South 
as  an  intolerable  interference  with  its  natural, 
though  peculiar,  institution,  which  not  only  had 
imposed  restrictions  on  its  extension  in  the  new 
and  fast-settling  regions  of  the  country,  but 
sought  to  proscribe  and  eliminate  it  in  the  South. 
This  resistance  speedily  showed  itself  in  the  new 
theories  which  had  now  become  prevalent  in  the 
Southern  half  of  the  Union  as  to  state-sovereignty 
and  the  so-called  state-rights  in  the  cotton- 
growing  section  and  along  the  border  States.  The 
first  practical  step  taken  towards  secession  was 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  49 

manifested  by  South  Carolina,  which  was  the 
earliest  to  take  action  among  the  irreconcilable 
sisterhood  in  the  South.  This  step  she  took  Dec. 
20th,  1860,  then  declaring  the  Union  dissolved,  as 
far  as  she  was  concerned,  and  setting  forth  the 
reasons  for  her  course  with  regard  to  repeal  and 
the  erection  of  an  independent  State  government. 
The  chief  reason  assigned  was  the  threatened 
Federal  interference  with  slavery,  following  upon 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States.  A  like  attitude  was  taken  by 
other  of  her  sister  States,  which  ere  long  (before 
the  inauguration  of  Lincoln,  March  4th,  1861) 
joined  her  in  revolt :  these  were  Mississippi,  Lou- 
isiana, Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  Texas. 
These  States  not  only  seceded  from  the  Union, 
but  seized  the  military  posts  and  national  prop- 
erty within  their  several  State  jurisdictions. 
The  motive  of  secession  was  the  same  in  all, 
namely,  unmistakable  jealousy  of  their  favored  in- 
stitution of  slavery,  and  the  desire  to  perpetuate  it 
within  the  area  of  the  seceding  States.  The  prin- 
ciple which  governed  their  joint  action  was  that 
embodied  in  the  constitutional  theories  held  and 
propounded  by  Calhoun,  viz.,  that  each  State  was 
in  its  own  right  sovereign  and  an  independent 
entity,  an  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 


50  LIFE  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

radically  at  variance  with  the  views  held  by  the 
people  and  their  leading  statesmen  in  the  North, 
who  maintained  that  the  United  States  was  a 
nation,  one  o,nd  indivisible,  and  by  their  moral 
sense  opposed,  at  least,  to  the  extension  of  slavery, 
and  dedicated,  in  so  far  as  practicable,  to  free 
labor.  This  was  the  opinion  held  and  expressed 
by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  first  Inaugural,  but  more 
decidedly  affirmed  in  his  message  to  Congress  of 
July  4r,  1861,  where  he  insisted  that  the  individual 
States  had  no  other  legal  status  in  the  national 
commonwealth  than  that  of  the  Union,  and  that 
none  of  them  had  a  Constitution  independent  of 
the  Union  ;  and  hence,  if  it  is  broken,  or  if  any  of 
them  dissevered  themselves  from  it,  they  did  so 
against  law  and  only  by  revolutionary  process. 
In  justice,  it  must  be  said,  that  not  all  the  aboli- 
tionists of  the  North  viewed  Secession  in  this  ex- 
treme and  disputed  light.  Many,  on  the  contrary, 
deemed  the  view  of  a  centralized  government  as 
a  national  compact  between  all  the  States  not  to 
be  broken  or  dissevered  as  an  autocratic  and  ag- 
gressive one,  fraught  with  peril  to  the  stability 
and  perpetuation  of  the  Union.  Among  those  who 
took  the  more  cautious  and  reasonable  side  in  the 
distracting  controversies  of  the  time  were  men 
like  Daniel  Webster,  who,  with  Clay  and  Calhoun 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  51 

of  the  South,  protested  against  the  aggressions 
and  heedlessness  of  abolitionism  ;  while  men,  like 
Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  were 
opposed  to  coercion  and  took  action  with  the  Border 
States  as  peacemakers,  by  desiring  that  the  South, 
if  she  wished  it,  should  withdraw  in  peace.  As  to 
the  legal  right  of  any  State  under  the  Constitution 
to  secede,  there  were  others  again  who  took  one  or 
the  other  side  of  the  controversy,  and  by  their 
contentions  added  to  the  ferment  and  disquiet  of 
the  time.  On  this  fiercely-debated  question  not  a 
few  of  the  best  minds  of  the  era  were  at  issue  with 
each  other  ;  while  there  were  those  who,  without 
rashly  committing  themselves  to  either  side,  took 
the  ground,  like  Secretary  Seward,  that  there  was 
a  "Higher  Law,"  above  the  Constitution,  whose 
moral  dictates  were  worthy  of  being  imperatively 
heard,  and  which,  as  in  Mr.  Seward's  case,  con- 
demned slavery  out  and  out,  and  incited  the  North 
to  ban  it  by  force  from  the  nation. 

As  we  calmly  look  back  now  on  the  distracting 
period,  with  the  knowledge  we  historically  have  of 
the  issues  of  the  contest — the  result  largely  of  the 
rabid  and  inflammatory  appeals  addressed  to  the 
North  by  the  abolitionists — we  can  see  that  there 
was  much  reason  for  a  more  sane  and  restrained 
judgment,  and  for  less  of  the  extravagant  and 


52  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

melodramatic  censure  of  negro  slavery  and  the 
fugitive  slave  law,  to  which  the  period  was 
,  recklessly  treated  in  public  speeches  and  in  parti- 
san appeals  through  the  medium  of  fiction  such 
as  that  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  Even  eman- 
cipation, had  it  been  brought  about  slowly  and 
dispassionately,  was  a  most  difficult  problem, 
especially  in  the  absence  in  the  negro  of  adequate 
preliminary  training  for  freedom,  and  of  due 
precautionary  measures  for  the  self-interest  and 
safety  alike  of  slave  and  of  master.  Slavery 
might  be  a  curse  and  a  blight  to  the  South — and 
doubtless  it  was,  as  it  has  been,  wherever  it  has 
existed — but  the  fact  that  it  was  this  hardly 
justified  intemperate  and  vituperative  denuncia- 
tion of  those  who  treated  the  slave  well,  as  it  was 
the  economic  interest  of  the  master,  as  well  as 
creditable  to  his  humanity,  to  do  ;  while  it  led,  as 
it  did,  to  the  most  untoward  event  in  the  annals 
of  the  nation — disunion  and  its  frightful  con- 
sequences to  both  sides  in  the  prolonged  and 
calamitous  Civil  War. 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  Colonel  Lee  and  the 
theme  proper  of  our  biography.  In  the  distract- 
ing controversies  of  the  period  we  have  been 
dealing  with,  he,  as  we  have  already  indicated, 
took  no  personal,  and  still  less  a  public,  part.  The 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  53 

shadows  of  the  time  were  however  about  him,  as 
they  were  about  all  patriots  and  true  lovers  of 
their  country.  On  the  subject  of  slavery  ana 
slave-emancipation,  he,  moreover,  held  pro- 
nounced, though  moderately  expressed,  opinions. 
His  letters  of  the  era  indicate  that,  and  not  only 
those  written  to  members  of  his  own  family,  but 
those  forwarded  to  his  close  personal  friends.  In 
these  we  see  that  the  controversies  of  the  time 
were  much  in  his  thoughts,  though  he  relied,  as  a 
Christian  man  was  bound  to  do,  on  a  benign  Provi- 
dence to  overrule  human  affairs  for  the  best,  and 
that  in  God's  own  good  time.  The  evils,  politi- 
cal and  moral,  of  slavery  he  explicitly  admits, 
though  he  deemed  them  evils  no  less  to  the  white 
race  than  to  the  black.  Towards  the  blacks,  he 
tells  us,  his  feelings  are  strongly  enlisted,  though 
he  considered  them  immeasurably  better  off  in  this 
country  than  in  Africa,  and  that  not  only  as  far  as 
their  physical  condition  went,  but  morally  and 
socially  as  well.  The  discipline  they  are  under- 
going here,  even  where  it  is  painful,  he  deemed 
necessary  for  their  further  instruction  as  a  race, 
while  he  hoped  it  would  prepare  them  for  better 
things.  Their  emancipation,  he,  however,  af- 
firmed, would  sooner  result  from  the  mild  and 
melting  influences  of  Christianity,  than  from  the 


54  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

storms  and  tempests  of  fiery  controversy.  "  While 
we  see  the  course  of  the  final  abolition  of  human 
slavery  is  still  onward,  and  give  it  the  aid  of  our 
prayers,  and  all  justifiable  means  in  our  power, 
we  must,"  he  adds,  "  leave  the  progress  as  well  as 
the  result  in  His  hands  who  sees  the  end,  who 
chooses  to  work  by  slow  influences,  and  with  whom 
a  thousand  years  are  but  as  a  single  day."  At 
the  same  time,  he  termed  Secession  nothing  but 
revolution,  and  dreaded  no  greater  calamity  for 
the  country  than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
"  The  framers  of  our  Constitution,"  he  writes,  in 
January,  1861,  in  a  letter  to  his  son,  "never  ex- 
hausted so  much  labor,  wisdom,  and  forbearance 
in  its  formation,  and  surrounded  it  with  so  many 
guards  and  securities,  if  it  was  intended  to  be 
broken  by  every  member  of  the  Confederacy  at 
will.  .  .  .  Still,"  he  is  careful  to  add,  "  a  Union 
that  can  only  be  maintained  by  swords  and 
bayonets,  and  in  which  strife  and  civil  war  are  to 
take  the  place  of  brotherly  love  and  kindness, 
has  no  charm  for  me.  I  shall  mourn  for  my 
country  and  for  the  welfare  and  progress  of 
mankind.  If  the  Union  is  dissolved,  and  the 
government  disrupted,"  he  concludes,  "I  shall 
return  to  my  native  State  and  share  the  miseries 
of  my  people,  and,  save  in  defense,  will  draw  my 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  55 

sword  on  none."  Elsewhere  he  patriotically 
declared,  that  "  if  he  owned  all  the  negroes  in  the 
South  he  would  gladly  yield  them  up  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  Union."  These  are  brave  and  in- 
spiring words  to  come  from  one  who  was  soon  now 
to  be  termed  by  the  North  "rebel  "and  chief 
among  rebels  ;  but  whose  whole  past  testified  to 
the  fidelity  of  a  loyal  and  true  gentleman,  alike  to 
the  Union  and  to  the  Constitution,  as  they  were 
founded  and  established  by  the  Fathers. 

Meanwhile  matters  political  were  fast  ap- 
proaching a  crisis  in  the  country,  for  the  John 
Brown  raid  upon  Harper's  Ferry  had  taken  place, 
and  a  wild  scheme  was  formed  by  this  hero-fana- 
tic and  his  nineteen  followers  to  free  the  slaves 
of  the  South,  though  it  bore  on  its  face  the  de- 
sign, if  not  the  intent,  of  inciting  a  servile  war. 
When  it  occurred  and  the  U.  S.  arsenal  had  been 
seized  by  Brown  and  his  meager  band,  Lee  was 
on  furlough  at  Arlington  to  settle  his  deceased 
father-in-law's  affairs.  Being  on  the  spot,  the 
Secretary  of  War  summoned  him  to  proceed  to 
Harper's  Ferry  with  some  marines  and  four  com- 
panies of  soldiers  from  Fort  Monroe  to  quell 
the  trouble ;  which  Lee  promptly  did,  Brown 
and  a  portion  of  his  fanatical  following  being 
captured  in  a  hiding-place  in  which  they  had 


56  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

sought  refuge  and  were  turned  over  to  the  civil 
authorities.  John  Brown,  as  all  know,  was  sub- 
sequently tried  on  a  charge  of  treason  and  con- 
spiracy, found  guilty,  sentenced,  and  executed ; 
while  Colonel  Lee  returned  to  Washington,  and 
from  Arlington  he  once  more  proceeded  to  his 
command  in  Texas.  Here,  in  garrison  at  San 
Antonio,  Lee  spent  his  last  year  of  service  under 
the  United  States  flag,  for  on  February  13,  1861, 
when  Texas  had  withdrawn  from  the  Union, 
he  delivered  over  his  authority  at  Fort  Mason 
and  repaired  to  the  national  capital,  at  the  sum- 
mons of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

On  his  return  to  Washington,  Lee  was  con- 
fronted with  an  embarrassing  and  painful  situ- 
ation. Not  only  had  seven  of  the  States  of  the 
South  passed  ordinances  of  secession  and  seized 
United  States  forts  within  their  State  juris- 
dictions, but  his  own  loved  commonwealth  of 
Virginia  was  on  the  brink  of  withdrawing  from 
the  Union.  This  action  was  followed  ere  long 
by  other  States,  while  the  Southern  Confederacy 
was  formally  inaugurated — if  we  may  not  say 
legalized — by  the  installation  of  Jefferson  Davis 
as  its  president.  As  president  of  the  Union 
Government,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  installed  in 
office,  and  presently  mad©  his  call  for  75,000 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  57 

troops  to  suppress  insurrectionary  violence  and 
oppose  the  secession  of  the  slave-holding  States. 
The  period  was  obviously  one  of  intense  excite- 
ment, for  coercion  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  government  over  the  disaffected  States 
that  had  arrayed  themselves  against  Federal 
authority  and  taken  themselves  out  of  the  Union, 
was  an  unusual,  as  it  was  an  extreme,  course, 
and  naturally  affected  the  attitude  of  most  of 
the  Southern  officers  who  were  then  serving  in 
the  Union  army.  To  Colonel  Lee,  the  struggle 
between  his  sense  of  duty  and  attachment  to  his 
native  State,  in  conflict  with  loyalty  in  his  own 
breast  to  the  country  he  had  so  long  and  faith- 
fully served,  was  a  distressing  and  painful  one. 
Especially  was  it  this  when  he  realized  what  co- 
ercion meant,  and  that  coercion  would  be  the 
penalty  to  be  paid  by  his  own  State  of  Virginia 
when,  as  presently  happened,  she  joined  the 
sisterhood  of  States  embraced  in  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  Against  his  own  State  he  could 
not,  of  course,  draw  his  sword,  still  less  could  he 
stand  idly  by  when  she  was  menaced  and  at- 
tacked by  the  Federal  power  as  a  commonwealth 
in  revolt  from  Union  authority.  In  his  mind 
there  was  nothing  of  sectional  enmity  or  hatred, 
only  love  for  his  native  State,  and  sorrow  over 


58  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  dire  conditions  that  had  arisen  to  compel  her 
to  withdraw  from  the  North  and  join  her  forces 
with  those  of  the  Confederacy. 

Into  the  vortex  of  war  the  two  sections  of  the 
Republic  soon  now  drifted,  and  with  Lincoln's 
call  for  troops  and  the  War  Department's  prep- 
arations to  invade  the  South,  Colonel  Lee's  men- 
tal struggle  as  to  what  he  should  do  came  to  an 
end.  His  devotion  to  the  Union  had  hitherto 
delayed  his  action  and  made  infirm  his  will ; 
while  it  brought  him  overtures  from  the  authori- 
ties to  take  command  of  the  proposed  army  of 
invasion,  which,  of  course,  was  repugnant  to  him, 
and,  in  declining,  he  at  the  same  time  handed  in 
his  resignation  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States 
army.  His  period  of  sore  trial  was,  happily,  now 
soon  over,  though  it  cost  him  much  to  quit  the 
service  with  which  he  had  been  so  long  and  hon- 
orably connected  and  separate  himself  from  his 
old  comrades  in  the  Union  army  and  his  friends 
and  associates  in  the  North.  To  General  Win- 
field  Scott,  who  loved  him  as  a  son  and  pleaded 
with  him  against  resigning,  he  wrote  a  kindly 
letter  of  regret  at  parting  with  him,  while  ac- 
knowledging his  appreciation  of  a  long  and  cor- 
dial friendship.  His  resignation  was  accepted 
April  20th  (1861),  and  three  days  later  the  Legis- 


BEFORE  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  59 

lature  of  Virginia  authorized  the  Governor  of  the 
State  to  offer  Lee  command  of  the  military  forces 
of  the  State,  with  the  rank  of  Major-General. 
This  changed  the  course  of  his  career,  and  for 
the  future  identified  himself  with  the  cause  of 
the  South,  in  which  he  played  so  conspicuous  and 
strenuous  a  part,  shedding  glory  upon  its  arms, 
despite  the  final  issue  of  the  long  and  bloody 
conflict.  Taking  leave  once  more  of  Arlington 
and  its  loved  inmates,  Lee  repaired  to  Richmond, 
Va.,  and  to  his  new  duties  as  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army  of  Virginia. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  OPPOSING  FORCES  PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT. 

THE  two  sections  of  the  riven  Union,  when 
Major-General  Lee  hetook  himself  to  Richmond, 
were  speedily  now  to  come  together  in  the  clash 
of  arms.  Already,  the  weakly-garrisoned  and 
badly-provisioned  Federal  Fort  Sumter,  in  Charles- 
ton harbor,  had  been  the  object  of  Southern  attack 
and  occupation  by  a  Confederate  force  under  Gen- 
eral Beauregard.  Major  Anderson  and  his  slender 
Northern  command  evacuated  the  Fort  on  April 
14th  (1861)  with  the  honors  of  war,  the  Confed- 
erates permitting  its  temporary  defenders  to  board 
the  Federal  Steamship  Baltic,  lying  on  the 
bar,  and  convey  them  to  New  York.  Contem- 
porary with  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  sympathy 
with  Secession  showed  itself  in  rioting  in  Balti- 
more, a  street  mob  there,  being  exasperated  over 
the  passing  through  the  city  of  a  body  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Pennsylvania  troops  bound  for 
Washington,  assailed  them  with  stones  and  other 
missiles.  The  troops,  resenting  the  insult  paid 

00 


PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT.  61 

them,  fired  upon  the  mob,  and  several  deaths  and 
many  serious  casualties  occurred  on  both  sides. 
When  Federal  authority  was  re-established  in  Bal- 
timore, the  Secession  fever  subsided,  and  the  city 
and  the  State  of  Maryland  were  preserved  to  the 
Union  ;  though  both  became  for  a  time  the  seats 
of  disaffection  and  the  hiding-place  of  not  a  little 
covert  treason.  Nor,  at  the  outset  of  the  war, 
was  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  less  grave  to 
the  North  when  the  South  made  haste  to  possess 
itself,  garrison,  and  occupy  Federal  forts,  arsenals, 
and  even  navy-yards,  at  outlying  points  of  the 
coast,  or  within  reach  of  the  seceded  States. 
Among  these  posts  early  pounced  upon  by  the 
Confederate  forces  were  Harper's  Ferry,  with  its 
arsenal,  and  the  Gosport  Navy  Yard,  adjoining 
Norfolk,  which,  though  set  on  fire  and  abandoned 
by  its  Northern  garrison,  was  seized  by  the 
Virginians,  its  flames  subdued,  and  many  of  its 
valuable  military  stores,  with  several  pieces  of 
serviceable  artillery,  were  recovered  for  use  by 
the  South.  Alike  grave  was  the  aspect  of  things 
revealed  in  the  unpreparedness  of  the  North  to 
meet  the  emergency  of  the  time,  and  its  inability 
for  some  months  to  confront  the  enemy  in  the  field 
with  any  force  more  adequate  than  raw,  untrained 
militia,  This  accounts  for  the  successive  defeats 


62  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

to  the  North  early  in  the  war,  such  as  those  at 
Big  Bethel,  near  Yorktown,  and  at  Kich  Moun- 
tain and  Laurel  Ridge,  in  the  valley  of  Virginia, 
followed  by  the  more  important  victory  for  the 
South  at  Bull  Run,  with  its  humiliating  and 
disastrous  rout  of  the  Northern  troops  backward 
upon  Washington. 

Still  darker  for  the  North  was  the  prospect  when, 
besides  the  secession  of  the  seven  Southern  States, 
came  the  breaking  away  from  the  Union  of 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Ar- 
kansas, together  with  the  subsequent  recognition 
by  Great  Britain  and  France  of  the  Confederate 
Government  and  their  according  it  belligerent 
rights,  following  upon  the  Northern  proclamation 
of  a  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports.  In  these 
fateful  times,  the  North,  though  slow  to  realize 
the  rift  within  the  Union  lute,  and  hardly  dreaming 
that  the  Southerners  were  serious  in  their  estrange- 
ment from  their  Northern  brethren,  was  mean- 
while full  of  unrequisitioned  resource,  alike  in  men 
and  in  money  ;  while  her  people,  when  they  awoke 
from  their  lethargy,  were  ardently  bent  on,  as  well 
as  patriotically  zealous  for,  the  prosecution  of  the 
war.  The  firing  upon  and  capture  of  Fort  Sumter, 
however  incredibly  the  report  of  its  occurring  was 
at  first  received,  aroused  and  made  indignant  the 


PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT.  63 

North  ;  while  it  brought  her  people  to  face  the 
reality  and  braced  them  to  the  point  of  armed 
coercion.  Here  and  there,  dissent  from  the  latter 
was  heard,  and  doubt  cast  upon  the  prospect  of  an 
"irrepressible  conflict."  In  these  quarters,  hope 
of  reconciliation  was  still  clung  to,  and  much  was 
made  of  the  sentimentally  viewed  spectacle  of 
"  brother  shedding  brother's  blood."  The  day  of 
peace,  however,  had  gone  by,  and  hope  of  arresting 
civil  war  before  it  had  passed  the  appeals  of  argu- 
ment and  the  bounds  of  reason  was  now  seen  to 
be  futile.  In  the  South,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
was  more  inflexibility  as  well  as  unity  ;  while, 
at  first,  its  government  was  better  prepared  for  a 
conflict,  and  it  knew,  moreover,  that  the  North 
was  not.  Subjugation  by  the  North  was,  as  yet, 
hardly  dreamed  of  ;  while  Southern  invasion  of 
the  North  and  the  capture  of  Washington  were 
widely  entertained  ideas  as  well  as  hopefully 
deemed  projects.  Had  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri  joined  the  Confederacy,  as  at  one  time 
seemed  probable,  the  scenes  of  the  coming  conflict 
would  more  likely  have  been  the  North  rather 
than  the  South,  and  possibly  with  another  than 
the  after  historical  result.  Aside  from  this,  and 
from  the  constitutional  argument  involved  in  the 
question  of  the  right  of  Secession,  the  North  had 


(J4  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  advantage  of  possessing  a  moral  motive,  with 
the  prestige  it  naturally  gave  it,  in  the  conflict ; 
while  the  South  fatally  handicapped  itself  by 
fighting,  in  the  main,  for  the  preservation  of 
its  favored  institution.  The  doctrine  of  human 
chattelhood,  to  an  enlightened  and  religious 
world,  was  the  South's  moral  condemnation,  and 
as  fanatical  was  its  adherence  to  and  preaching 
of  this  as  were  fanatical  the  extreme  views  and 
the  hysterical  incitement  to  aggression  on  the 
part  of  Northern  abolitionists.  The  better  minds 
of  the  South  obviously  saw  and  admitted  this, 
though  they  could  ill  brook  the  sectional  intoler- 
ance cf  the  North,  and  so  took  the  stand  they  did, 
further  influenced  by  the  local  claims  of  the  region 
and  the  ties  of  family  connection  and  tradition 
in  the  South.  With  them,  Disunion  was  not  so 
much  their  motive — indeed,  by  many  it  was  dis- 
tinctly disavowed — as  the  believed  right  they  had 
of  separation,  coupled,  as  in  the  case  of  Major- 
General  Lee,  with  an  ardent  affection  for  their 
native  State,  loyalty  to  its  interests,  and  the  claim 
each  section  had  to  its  sons'  allegiance  and  succor 
when  in  jeopardy,  or  when  it  had  become  the 
object  of  menace  and  aggression  by  the  govern- 
ment of  what  was  deemed  "a  sectional  and 
minority  President." 


PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT.  65 

To  the  North,  it  was  unfortunate  that  the  crisis 
that  had  come  upon  the  country  had  found  it  un- 
prepared for  the  pending  conflict,  and  that,  when 
it  was  launched,  it  was  at  once  paralyzed  as  well 
as  dismayed  at  the  immediate  result.  The  effect 
of  this  on  the  South  was  naturally  encouraging, 
while  the  Confederates  were  more  united  and  in 
greater  earnest,  and  possessed,  moreover,  the 
abler  army  leaders,  in  such  experienced  generals 
and  clever  tacticians  as  Lee,  Johnston,  Long- 
street,  and  Stonewall  Jackson.  It  was,  on  the 
other  hand,  at  a  disadvantage  in  having  little 
of  a  navy,  and  was  consequently  unable  to  cope 
with  the  sea-power  resources  of  the  North  in 
blockading  and  investing  Southern  ports,  with 
the  fine  fighting  qualities  and  admirable  sea- 
manship manifested  by  men  like  Farragut,  Foote, 
and  Porter.  In  command  of  the  sinews  of  war, 
the  South  was  also  at  a  disadvantage  compared 
with  the  North,  though  the  drain  even  upon  the 
latter  became,  as  we  know,  unprecedentedly  great 
and  most  embarrassing  to  its  financial  backers 
at  home  and  abroad,  as  well  as  to  the  distracted 
Administration  at  Washington.  This  was  espe- 
cially the  case  in  the  later  stages  in  the  war,  when 
the  national  currency  had  greatly  depreciated, 
and  when  the  North  was  staggering  under  its 


6(5  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

burdensome  load  of  laxatiou,  with  a  national  debt 
which  had  risen  from  about  $80,000,000  in  1860 
to  over  $2,800.000,000  in  the  autumn  of  1865.  In 
this  respect,  the  South  had  its  own  perplexities 
and  troubles,  in  spite  of  heavy  levies  in  the  way 
of  taxation,  its  risky,  surreptitious  sales  of  cotton 
and  the  greatly-needed  provisions  it  obtained  for 
this,  when  it  succeeded  in  passing  the  vigilant 
blockade  and  paying  loot  to  the  army  of  private 
speculators.  With  all  in  its  favor,  or  could  pro- 
cure by  hook  or  by  crook,  the  Southern  army 
was  often  in  sore  straits  for  daily  rations,  having 
often  to  rely  almost  solely  on  corn  meal ;  while  it 
was  usually  sadly  deficient  in  tents  for  shelter,  as 
well  as  in  shoes,  clothing,  and  blankets.  The 
facilities  for  caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded  were 
also  often  lamentably  indifferent  ;  while  the  pri- 
vations endured  by  even  the  strong  and  the  well 
on  the  march,  or  when  being  transported  in  close 
box-cars  from  place  to  place,  were  at  times  too 
harrowing  for  words. 

The  curtain  of  war  was  now,  however,  rung  up, 
and  from  the  general  aspects  of  the  struggle  as  it 
affected  both  combatants  we  pass  to  describe,  in 
some  reasonable  detail,  the  chief  incidents  in  the 
eventful  drama.  The  Federal  Administration  we 
have  seen,  had  received  Lincoln  as  its  presiding 


PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT.  67 

head,  and  he  was  judicious  in  the  selection  of  a  Cab- 
inet, which  was  composed,  as  a  whole,  of  experi- 
enced as  well  as  able  Northern  statesmen.  The 
Vice-President  was  Hannibal  Hamlin,  who,  in  1864, 
when  Lincoln  was  elected  for  another  term  of 
office,  was  replaced  by  Andrew  Johnson  in  the 
subordinate  post,  and  who  became  his  successor. 
The  more  prominent  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  advisers 
were  Seward,  Chase,  and  Cameron,  all  of  whom 
had  been  influential  in  the  political  circles  of  the 
capital.  To  these  were  entrusted  the  secretary- 
ships, respectively,  of  the  State  Department, 
the  Treasury,  and  the  War  Office.  Secretary 
Seward  remained  during  the  war  at  the  head  of 
the  State  Department,  though  Chase,  in  1864, 
when  he  was  created  chief-justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  gave  place  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  to 
Fessenden,  and  later  on  to  MacCulloch ;  while 
Cameron,  in  1862,  gave  way  to  E.  M.  Stanton  in 
the  control  of  the  War  Department.  To  Gideon 
Wells  fell  the  post  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ; 
Montgomery  Blair  became  Postmaster-General ; 
Caleb  B.  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  ;  and 
Edward  Bates  was  appointed  Attorney-General. 

The  representative  department  heads  of  the 
Southern  cause,  who  had  been  officially  installed 
at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  under  Jefferson  Davis  (of 


flg  LIFE  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

Miss.)  as  President  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment, with  A.  H.  Stephens  (of  Ga.)  as  Vice- 
President,  were  :  Kobert  Toombs  (of  Ga.),  Secre- 
tary of  State;  C.  G.  Memminger  (of  S.  C.), 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  and  L.  P.  Walker 
(of  Ala.),  Secretary  of  War.  To  these  were  later 
appointed  S.  R.  Mallory  (of  Fla.),  Secretary  of 
the  Navy ;  and  J.  H.  Eeagan  (of  Texas),  Post- 
master-General. The  chief  change  in  the  above 
posts  was  that  which  gave  to  Judah  Philip  Ben- 
jamin, in  1861,  the  Secretaryship  of  War,  and  from 
February  1862,  to  the  collapse  of  the  Confeder- 
acy, the  Secretaryship  of  State.  Later  on,  the 
headquarters  of  the  Confederate  Government  was 
transferred  from  Montgomery,  Ala.,  to  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  and  thither,  after  his  withdrawal 
from  the  military  service  of  the  Union,  did  Major- 
General  Lee,  as  we  have  related,  proceed.  Here 
the  distinguished  son  of  Virginia  met  with  a 
hearty,  vociferous  welcome,  and  that  alike  from 
the  Richmond  populace  and  from  the  Virginia 
convention,  then  in  session,  and  before  which,  on 
his  coming  to  the  capital,  he  had  been  invited  to 
appear.  Governor  Letcher  had  already  nomin- 
ated him  to  the  chief  commaad  of  the  military 
forces  of  the  State,  with  the  rank  of  major-gen- 
eral, and  as  such  the  convention,  together  with 


PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT.  69 

a  large  and  interested  audience,  warmly  greeted 
him.  To  the  assembled  body,  Lee  was  formally 
presented  in  an  elaborate  and  eulogistic  address, 
the  major-general  being  introduced  as  the  State's 
trusted  commander-in-chief.  To  the  address  and 
greeting,  the  recipient  of  the  honor  made  the 
following  brief,  but  characteristically  modest, 
reply  :  "Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
vention : — Profoundly  impressed  with  the  solem- 
nity of  the  occasion,  for  which  I  must  say  I  was 
not  prepared,  I  accept  the  position  assigned  me  by 
your  partiality.  I  would  have  much  preferred 
had  your  choice  fallen  upon  an  abler  man. 
Trusting  in  Almighty  God,  an  approving  con- 
science, and  the  aid  of  my  fellow-citizens,  I  devote 
myself  to  the  service  of  my  native  State,  in  whose 
behalf  alone  will  I  ever  again  draw  my  sword." 
The  demonstration,  and  the  honor  paid  the 
general  in  the  high  appointment  which  had  been 
given  him,  was  not  only  well  deserved,  but  was 
sure  to  be  rewarded  by  able  and  gallant,  as  well 
as  by  most  efficient,  service.  He  had  sacrificed  not 
a  little  in  resigning  his  cavalry  command  under 
the  Union  flag  ;  but  this,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
due  to  his  preferred  allegiance  to  his  native  State, 
no  less  than  to  his  refusal  to  fight  against  her 
when  it  had  withdrawn  from  the  North  and 


70  LIFE  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

joined  her  fortunes  with  those  of  the  Confed- 
eracy. For  this  act  of  loyalty  to  the  Common- 
wealth of  Virginia,  he  had  to  abandon  his  loved 
Arlington,  while  he,  with  his  dear  wife  and  at- 
tached family,  had  become  homeless,  save  for 
the  temporary  domicile  in  the  White  House,  at 
Pamunkey,  in  which  his  wife  and  children  had 
meanwhile  found  safety  and  shelter.  But  with 
all  the  patriotic  sacrifice  he  had  been  called  upon 
to  make,  Lee  was  not  one  to  repine  over  duty 
conscientiously  performed.  His  attitude  amid 
the  distractions  and  perils  of  the  time  is  well 
shown  at  this  juncture  in  a  letter  to  his  wife 
from  Richmond  (under  date  May  8,  1861).  He 
there  says  :  "  I  grieve  at  the  anxiety  th&t  drives 
you  from  your  home.  I  can  appreciate  your 
feelings  on  the  occasion,  and  pray  that  you  may 
receive  comfort  and  strength  in  the  difficulties 
that  surround  you.  When  I  reflect  upon  the 
calamity  pending  over  the  country,"  he  bravely 
and  resignedly  adds,  "my  own  sorrows  sink  intov 
insignificance."  Very  touching  at  this  time  is  the 
spirit  shown  by  Lee's  noble  wife,  in  a  letter  she 
addressed  to  her  husband's  admiring  friend,  the 
aged  General  Scott,  giving  him  an  account  of  her 
worthy  husband's  welcome  by  the  Virginia  Con- 
vention. Writing  from  Arlington  (May  5,  1861) 


PREPARING  FOR  CONFLICT.  71 

before  quitting  her  ancestral  home,  she  thus 
addresses  the  veteran  soldier :  "  My  dear  Gen- 
eral:—Hearing  that  you  desire  to  see  the  account 
of  my  husband's  reception  in  Richmond,  I  have 
sent  it  to  you.  No  honors  can  reconcile  us  to 
this  fratricidal  war  which  we  would  have  laid 
down  our  lives  to  avert.  Whatever  may  happen, 
I  feel  that  I  may  expect  from  your  kindness  all 
the  protection  you  can  in  honor  afford.  Nothing 
can  ever  make  me  forget  your  kind  appreciation 
of  Mr.  Lee.  If  you  knew  all  you  would  not  think 
so  hardly  of  me.  Were  it  not  that  I  would  not 
add  one  feather  to  his  load  of  care,  nothing  would 
induce  me  to  abandon  my  home.  Oh,  that  you 
could  command  peace  to  our  distracted  country ! 
Yours  in  sadness  and  sorrow,  M.  C.  LEE."  Less 
than  three  weeks  from  the  date  of  this  epistle, 
the  paternal  home  of  the  Lee  family  had  to  be 
abandoned,  on  the  approach  of  an  outpost  of  the 
Federal  army,  which  made  Arlington  its  head- 
quarters, while  taking  possession  of  the  heights 
of  "Washington  and  the  region  of  the  Potomac's 
banks  as  far  as  Alexandria, 


CHAPTER  VL 

THE  DRAMA  OPENS. 

WHEN  the  Civil  War  was  launched,  the  South, 
though  confident  and  bold  even  to  audacity,  was 
in  numbers  weak,  as  compared  with  the  North 
and  the  North- Western  region,  that  threw  in  its 
lot  with  the  Union.  Of  the  thirty-one  millions 
representing  the  population  of  the  United  States 
according  to  the  Census  of  1860,  only  some  twelve 
millions  dwelt  in  the  Slave  States,  and  but  nine 
millions  could  be  counted  among  the  States  of 
the  South  that  actually  seceded,  since  the  Slave 
States  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  West  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  did  not  unite  with  the 
Confederacy.  Of  these  nine  millions,  it  has  to  be 
remember,  moreover,  that  about  three  and  a  half 
millions  were  slaves  ;  so  that  the  entire  strength 
of  the  Confederate  States,  in  freemen,  that  broke 
away  from  and  defied  the  Union,  was  only  some 
five  and  a  half  millions,  of  which,  in  round 
numbers,  two  and  a  half  millions  were,  women, 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  73 

leaving  but  three  millions  of  a  possible  fighting 
strength  to  be  opposed,  roughly  speaking,  to  three 
times  the  number  in  the  North.  The  disparity  in 
wealth  and  resources  was  also  great,  the  prepon- 
derance being  vastly  on  the  side  of  the  Union.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  South  was  at  the  outset  better 
prepared  for  conflict,  and  had  proportionately  a 
larger  number  of  expert  soldiers,  used  to  arms, 
among  them  being  many  able  officers  who  had 
seen  considerable  service  in  the  Union  army,  and 
had  a  practical  as  well  as  a  theoretical  knowledge 
of  and  genius  for  war.  The  South,  moreover, 
was  from  the  first  in  deadly  earnest,  and  fought, 
in  the  main,  on  the  defensive  and  on  its  own  soil, 
and  that  not  only  for  what  it  conceived  to  be  its 
rights  in  the  institution  of  slavery,  but  for  the 
inherent  right  of  Secession,  especially  when  its 
interests  and  free,  independent  action  were  in 
peril  from  Northern  coercion  and  the  clamor  of 
what  was  deemed  incendiary  abolition  dictation 
and  fanaticism.  In  the  view  it  took  with  regard 
to  these  rights  and  sectional  claims,  it  looked  at 
the  outset  for  a  division  of  sentiment  in  its  favor 
in  the  North  and  West,  as  well  as  for  recognition 
by,  if  not  practical  aid  from,  the  European 
nations  whose  industry  and  commerce  were  depen- 
dent upon  "King  Cotton,"  In  the  indulging  of 


74.  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

these  hopes  it  was  largely  disappointed,  for  the 
West  remained  loyal  to  the  Union ;  while  the 
effectiveness  of  the  Northern  blockade  of  the 
Southern  ports,  and  the  absence  of  a  Confederate 
navy,  proved  futile  to  Southern  expectation  of 
European  interference  and  aid.  Nor  was  it  finan- 
cially in  a  position  to  enter  upon  a  prolonged 
struggle,  as  was  ere  long  seen  in  the  collapse  of 
the  Confederate  Government's  credit,  depending, 
in  the  main,  as  it  did  upon  issues  of  paper  money 
which  so  depreciated  in  value  that  towards  the 
close  of  the  struggle  it  took  $500  of  Confederate 
money  to  buy  a  pair  of  trooper's  boots. 

Another  matter  that  favored  the  South  through- 
out the  course  of  the  struggle,  was  the  unity  of  its 
army  organization,  in  the  main,  under  a  single 
directing  mind,  one  who  knew  his  men  well,  and 
that  not  only  in  units  but  in  masses,  and  whom 
his  men  knew  and  trusted  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
In  General  Lee,  moreover,  the  Southern  cause 
had  a  commander  capable  of  fighting  a  battle  on 
a  large  scale,  and  who,  as  an  engineer  officer  of 
great  experience  and  astuteness,  possessed  a 
trained  eye  for  adequate  preliminary  reconnais- 
sance, and  for  every  coign  of  vantage  in  the  field ; 
and  at  the  same  time  had  phenomenal  personal 
qualities  that  gave  him  pre-eminence  among  the 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  75 

leaders  of  the  South,  while  they  removed  him  far 
above  self-seeking,  petty  jealousy,  and  fretfulness 
as  to  his  rank-status  or  right  to  be  where  he  was 
and  remained  throughout  the  war.  In  contrast 
with  these  things,  the  North,  especially  at  the  out- 
set of  the  war,  had  no  such  single  commander  to 
lead  with  confidence  and  unerring  judgment  and 
purpose  its  arms,  or  who  could  bring  on  the  field 
masses  of  trained  men,  enured  to  fighting,  rather 
than  fresh,  hastily  mobilized  units,  without  stay- 
ing power  in  a  hot  encounter,  and  who  had  all  the 
inefficiency  and  timorousness  of  raw  recruits.  The 
North,  we  know,  did  better  later  on  in  the  strug- 
gle, after  it  had  got  over  its  early  chastening  time 
of  defeat  and  bafflement,  and  had  fully  roused 
itself  to  bring  its  greater  strength  of  men  and 
resources  to  bear  upon  the  "  rebels  "  and  prosecute 
the  war  with  effect  and  vigor  to  its  final  and 
successful  issue.  It  did  better,  moreover,  when 
such  leaders  of  its  armies  as  Grant,  Sherman, 
Sheridan,  Rosecrans,  Pope,  and  Thomas  came 
to  the  front  and  replaced  or  overshadowed  men 
of  the  lesser  stamp  like  McClellan,  Hancock, 
McDowell,  Buell,  Burnside,  and  Meade ;  though, 
at  the  best,  if  we  except  Grant,  whose  bull-dog 
tenacity  and  sledge-hammer  though  sanguinary 
work  told  in  the  issues  of  the  conflict,  with  the 


76  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

brilliant  achievements  of  Sheridan  and  Sherman, 
the  North  had  no  such  array  of  fighting  generals, 
skilful  tacticians,  and  strong,  sagacious  leaders 
as  the  South  had  in  Lee,  J.  E.  and  A.  S.  Johnston, 
"  Stonewall  "  Jackson,  Beauregard,  Bragg,  Hood, 
and  Early,  who  proved  themselves  foes  it  was  folly 
to  underrate.  Besides  this  disadvantage,  the  North 
at  the  outset,  moreover,  made  the  palpable  mistake 
of  belittling  its  Union  adversaries,  and  was  even 
sceptical  as  to  the  imminence  of  war  ;  though  the 
firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  the  affair  at  Big  Bethel, 
and  discomfiture  at  Bull  Run,  with  the  flight  of 
Union  forces  back  upon  the  capital,  speedily  unde- 
ceived her  ;  and  yet  not  to  a  greater  or  more 
adequate  extent  than  led  President  Lincoln,  some 
months  before,  to  summon  to  the  Nation's  aid  a 
defensive  and  aggressive  force  no  heavier  than 
that  of  Y5,000  men,  to  serve  for  a  period  of  only 
three  months ! 

Meanwhile,  as  we  know,  the  South  was  strain- 
ing every  nerve  not  only  to  strengthen  the  assail- 
able sections  of  her  frontier  and  vast  coast  line, 
put  Richmond,  now  the  Confederate  capital,  in  an 
adequate  state  of  defense,  and  watch  the  ap- 
proaches to  Virginia's  borders,  but  even  meditated 
a  menacing  raid  upon  Washington,  to  assail  the 
North  in  its  then  ill-defended  capital.  Already 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  77 

Lee,  who  by  his  own  Virginian  Commonwealth, 
had  been  given  command  of  her  military  forces  and 
was  at  work  erecting  fortifications  and  batteries 
round  the  State's  sea-front  and  river  mouths, 
was  by  this  time  called  to  the  councils  of  the 
Confederacy  at  Richmond,  under  Jefferson 
Davis,  its  President  and  nominal  commanding- 
general,  thence  was  despatched  to  the  mountains 
of  Western  Virginia  in  command  of  a  body  of 
troops  to  make  reconnaissances  and  maintain  an 
oversight  of  the  situation.  All  here  he  succeeded, 
meantime,  in  doing,  was  to  watch  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  nullify  the  operations,  on  land  and  sea,  of 
invading  Northern  forces  in  the  region,  until  the 
early  spring  of  1862,  when  he  was  recalled  to 
Richmond  and  there  given  command  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  with  the  special  object  of 
concentrating  forces  for  the  protection  of  the 
Confederate  capital,  then  threatened  by  a  North- 
ern army  under  McClellan.  Entrusted  with 
this  important  and  responsible  task,  General  Lee 
entered  with  his  wonted  vigor  upon  his  new 
duties.  The  cry  in  the  North  just  then  was, 
"On  to  Richmond!"  for  since  McClellan  had 
been  given  the  chief  command  of  the  Northern 
forces  he  had  as  yet  done  nothing  actively  in  the 
field,  his  extreme  caution  holding  his  hand  ;  while 


78  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

his  attention  to  the  details  of  organization 
occupied  him  fully,  in  spite  of  Northern  impatience 
with  his  tardiness.  At  length,  however,  he  pro- 
posed to  put  his  command  in  motion,  with  the  view 
of  meeting  the  Union  clamor  for  the  capture  of 
Richmond,  though  the  Washington  Administra- 
tion insisted  that  in  the  move  against  the  Con- 
federate capital  the  safety  of  the  Union  capital 
should  be  amply  provided  for  and  secured.  Mc- 
Clellan's  project  in  advancing  upon  Richmond 
was  not  to  move  in  force  upon  the  Confederate 
entrenchments  at  Manassas  and  try  the  hazard  of 
battle  there  with  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  but  to 
transport  his  army  by  water  to  the  lower  Chesa- 
peake— to  the  Peninsula  formed  by  the  James  and 
York  rivers — and,  with  his  base  resting  upon 
Fortress  Monroe,  advance  upon  Richmond  from 
that  quarter. 

Before  the  Peninsular  campaign  was  entered 
upon,  in  April,  1862,  it  had  been  going  ill  with 
the  fortunes  of  the  South  in  the  West.  There, 
thanks  to  the  aid  afforded  by  the  Northern  fleet, 
under  Commodore  Foote,  Ulysses  Grant,  earlier  in 
the  year,  had  made  his  way  up  the  Tennessee 
River  and  captured  Fort  Henry,  following  that 
by  an  attack  upon  Fort  Donelson,  on  the  Cumber- 
land River,  which,  after  two  days' severe  fighting 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  T9 

surrendered  to  him,  with  a  loss  of  nearly  15,000 
men.  A  little  later  than  these  Southern  defeats, 
came  other  Northern  successes,  in  the  capture  of 
Island  Number  Ten,  on  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
fall  of  New  Orleans  to  Admirals  Farragut  and 
Porter ;  while  the  fiercely-contested  battle  of 
Shiloh,  between  A.  S.  Johnston  and  Buell  and 
Grant,  had  been  fought,  the  losses  on  both  sides 
amounting  to  over  20,000  men,  besides  the  killing 
of  the  Confederate  commander  (Johnston),  whose 
command  was  taken  over  by  Beauregard.  These 
losses,  together  with  the  earlier  Northern  vic- 
tories under  Thomas  at  Mill  Spring,  and  under 
Curtis  at  Pea  Ridge,  with  the  later  surrender  of 
Memphis  to  Commodore  Davis,  were  irretrievable 
disasters  to  the  South,  not  to  speak  of  its  having 
to  abandon  the  control  of  the  Mississippi.  For 
the  time,  the  Southern  heart,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  cheered  by  the  doings  of  the  armor-clad 
Merrimac,  in  Hampton  Roads,  where  the  trans- 
mogrified craft  rammed  and  sank  the  Northern 
frigate  Cumberland,  burned  the  Congress  and 
forced  the  Minnesota  to  seek  safety  in  shoal  water. 
After  this,  came  the  encounter  with  an  equally 
formidable  adversary,  the  Ericsson  revolving  tur- 
ret ship  Monitor  (March,  1862),  and  the  with- 
drawal of  both  Monitor  and  Merrimac  after  a 


gO  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

lavish  waste  of  shot  on  both  sides ;  though  the  pres- 
ence of  and  reputation  gained  by  the  Monitor  re- 
lieved the  Northern  mind  from  dread  of  Southern 
attack  on  Eastern  harbors  by  the  Confederate  ram. 
Nor  were  the  complications  of  the  era  between  the 
United  States  Government  and  Great  Britain,  in 
the  Trent  affair,  without  a  ray  of  hope  to  the 
South,  as  being  likely  to  lead  to  trouble  between 
the  two  nations,  and  so  be  advantageous  to  the 
Confederate  cause.  The  threatening  aspect  of 
affairs,  as  we  know,  however,  speedily  blew  over, 
the  Washington  authorities  having  the  good  sense 
to  recognize  that  Captain  Wilkes'  seizure  of 
Messrs.  Slidell  and  Mason  on  board  the  Trent 
was  not  only  a  violation  of  neutrality,  but  con- 
trary to  American  contention  and  tradition. 

While  these  events  were  happening,  General 
McClellan,  tardily  meeting  the  Northern  clamor 
for  an  advance  upon  Richmond,  pursued  his  object 
of  proceeding  with  his  Army  of  the  Potomac  to 
Fortress  Monroe,  there  to  initiate  his  movement 
against  the  Confederate  capital.  Before  setting 
out  with  his  Peninsular  army  of  invasion,  the 
North  had  at  Washington  a  fighting  force  of  about 
170,000  men  ;  yet,  with  this  large  body  of  troops 
at  his  command,  McClellan  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  timidly  afraid  of  marching  upon  Richmond 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  81 

through  Johnston's  defensive  lines  at  Manassas. 
He  preferred,  as  we  have  related,  to  operate  from 
^he  lower  Chesapeake,  where  he  hoped  to  have  had 
the  aid  of  the  Northern  gunboats  to  protect  the 
flanks  of  his  army.  In  this  he  was,  however, 
disappointed,  since  the  Union  gunboats  were  at 
the  time  fully  occupied  in  keeping  watch  over  the 
terrible  ironclad,  the  Merrimac.  He  was  further 
disappointed  in  having  to  leave  behind  him,  for 
the  defense  of  Washington,  about  40,000,  instead 
of  20,000  men,  the  Lincoln  Administration  insist- 
ing that  McDowell's  army  corps  should  be  retained, 
in  addition  to  the  20,000  troops,  which  were  all 
McClellan  had  designed  to  leave  at  the  capital. 
As  it  was,  he  had  with  him  a  force  well  nigh 
130,000  strong,  to  pit  against  the  Southern  armies, 
all  told,  of  less  than  half  that  number  in  Virginia, 
to  protect  Richmond,  and  guard  the  coast  line  and 
other  approaches  to  the  Southern  capital.  Of  the 
latter  force,  the  Southern  general,  Magruder,  had 
under  him,  to  confront  McClellan  when  he  reached 
the  Peninsula,  a  body  of  but  11,000  troops,  which 
were  extended  behind  defensive  lines,  some  twelve 
miles  in  length,  from  Yorktown,  where  his  left 
rested,  along  the  Warwick  River  to  Mulberry 
Island,  to  his  right  flank  on  the  James.  On  Mc- 
Clellan's  failure  to  meet  Johnston  at  Manassas 


82  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

and  proceeding  to  the  Chesapeake,  the  latter  met 
the  movement  by  withdrawing  from  the  region  of 
Bull  Run,  and  took  up  a  new  position  on  the 
Rappahannock,  where  he  could  better  oppose 
McClellan.  Meanwhile,  Magruder's  front  was 
reinforced  by  the  divisions  of  Jubal  Early,  D.  R. 
Jones,  and  D.  H.  Hill,  increasing  the  Southern 
defensive  array  to  oppose  the  Federal  advance  to 
53,000  men,  the  chief  command  of  all  being  now 
assumed  (April  17,  1862)  by  General  J.  E.  John- 
ston, who  had  also  the  general  charge  of  the  De- 
partment of  Norfolk. 

It  took  the  remainder  of  the  month  of  April 
for  McClellan  to  make  his  reconnaissances  in  the 
region  and  ascertain  the  strength  of  the  forces 
opposed  to  him  ;  and  when  this  was  done  he  pro- 
ceeded to  erect  batteries  commanding  Yorktown 
and  to  prepare  for  a  general  assault.  While 
thus  engaged,  a  council  of  war  had  been  held  at 
Richmond,  in  which  General  Lee  took  a  leading 
directing  part,  and  which  favored  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Southern  defensive  line  and  concentrate  it 
nearer  to  the  Confederate  capital.  This  decision 
having  been  come  to,  Yorktown  was  abandoned, 
the  retreat  upon  Williamsburg  being  for  a  time 
adroitly  concealed  by  a  furious  cannonade  from 
the  batteries  of  the  place.  The  movement  was 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  83 

one  of  chagrin  to  McClellan,  for  he  had  hoped 
to  take  Yorktown  by  siege  and  assault,  having 
expended  weeks  in  preparing  for  it,  and  was, 
moreover,  confident  of  success.  All  he  had  for 
his  pains  was  the  occupying  of  the  evacuated 
Confederate  works,  and  the  pursuit  of  the  retreat- 
ing Southern  defenders  of  the  post.  In  the  retreat 
towards  Richmond,  an  effective  stand  was  made 
at  Williamsburg  by  the  troops  under  Longstreet 
and  D.  H.  Hill,  who  fought  the  pursuing  Northern 
force  under  Hooker  and  Hancock,  General  Sumner 
being  in  chief  command  ;  while  a  division  under 
Kearny  later  came  on  the  field.  Battle  had  been 
given  at  Williamsburg,  so  as  to  check  Federal 
pursuit  and  allow  time  for  Johnston  to  get  the 
mass  of  his  army  and  its  equipment  well  on  the 
road  to  Richmond.  As  it  was,  the  Northerners, 
were  hotly  repulsed,  suffering  a  heavy  loss  of  over 
2,000  men  in  killed  and  wounded,  in  addition  to 
some  pieces  of  artillery  captured  by  "  the  rebels." 
The  battle  lasted  throughout  the  day  of  May  5th, 
when  the  Confederates  fell  back  towards  the 
Chickahominy,  at  the  same  time  withdrawing  the 
garrison  under  Huger,  from  Norfolk,  Va.  In 
spite  of  defeat  McClellan  continued  the  advance 
upon  Richmond,  having  for  his  new  base  the 
White  House,  on  the  Pamunkey.  By  this  time 


g4  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

he  had  been  relieved  'of  the  chief  command  of  the 
Northern  forces  by  General  Halleck  at  Washing- 
ton, and  was  now  solely  responsible  for  the  Fed- 
eral operations  in  the  Peninsula,  though  in 
conducting  these  he  looked  for  support  from 
McDowell's  division,  which  was  now  advanced 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Manassas  to  Fredericks- 
burg.  Here  it  was,  however,  detained  by  instruc- 
tions from  Washington,  much  to  McClellan's 
annoyance,  owing  to  continued  fear  of  a  Southern 
advance  upon  the  Union  capital  by  Jackson's 
alertly-moving  command,  which  was  operating 
menacingly  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  It  was  to 
Jackson,  at  this  juncture,  that  Richmond,  now  in 
real  dread  of  McClellan,  was  saved  from  assault 
and  possible  occupation  by  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  To  his  active,  adroit,  and  tactical 
movements  in  the  Valley,  which  alarmed  Wash- 
ington, and  kept  McDowell  from  joining  McClel- 
lan, the  South  owed  the  deliverance  of  its  capital 
seat ;  while  it  gave  Johnston  the  opportunity  to 
give  his  attention  to  the  Federal  forces  now 
massing  on  the  Chickahominy. 

McClellan's  advance  upon  Richmond  was  for  a 
time  balked  by  difficulties  in  getting  across  the 
latter  stream  (the  Chickahominy),  the  retreating 
Confederates  having  destroyed  its  bridges  in  fall- 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  85 

ing  back  upon  the  capital ;  while  the  wet  season 
had  swollen  the  river  greatly  and  rendered  very 
swampy  its  banks.  One  of  the  Northern  army 
wings  was,  however,  got  across  the  stream,  by 
means  of  pontoons,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bot- 
tom Bridge,  and  the  corps  composing  it — those 
of  Keyes,  Franklin,  and  Heintzelman — Johnston 
now  proceeded  to  attack.  The  engagement  that 
ensued — that  at  Seven  Pines  or  Fair  Oaks — took 
place  on  the  last  day  of  May  and  the  first  of  June 
(1862),  and  was  stubbornly  fought  by  J.  E.  John- 
ston and  his  next  ranking  officer,  G.  W.  Smith. 
In  the  battle,  the  Federals  met  with  a  severe  re- 
buff, and  were  repeatedly  driven  back  on  the 
Chickahominy,  the  timely  arrival  of  Sumner's 
corps  only  saving  them  from  annihilation  or  utter 
rout.  At  the  close  of  the  first  day's  fighting, 
t  General  Johnston  was  unfortunate  enough  to  be 
severely  wounded,  and  this  disabled  him  from 
taking  part  in,  or  even  directing,  the  morrow's 
operations.  The  incidents  of  the  second  day's 
battle  were  unimportant  in  results  on  either  side, 
both  armies  remaining  on  the  ground  at  the  close 
of  the  fighting  and  protecting  themselves  by 
entrenchments.  Johnston's  disablement  for  the 
time  from  active  service  brought  General  Lee 
upon  the  scene,  however,  President  Davis  per- 


86  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LER. 

mitting  him  at  length  to  take  the  field,  while  he 
appointed  him  Commander-in-chief. 

With  Lee's  return  to  active  duty  in  the  field, 
McClellan's  designs  upon  the  Confederate  capital 
were  signally  balked  ;  while  the  presence  and 
superb  leadership  of  the  great  Southern  soldier 
were  great  gains  to  the  South  in  the  crisis  of 
invasion.  This  was  presently  seen  by  the  vig- 
orous campaign  he  now  entered  upon  at  the  head 
of  the  Northern  Army  of  Virginia,  and  by  its 
operations  during  the  critical  era  of  the  Seven 
Days'  Battles  in  front  of  Richmond.  The  troops 
under  him,  or  within  call  from  Richmond,  did 
not,  all  told,  exceed  60,000  men  ;  against  which 
McClellan,  at  this  time,  had  an  army  double  in 
number,  without  reckoning  the  corps  under 
McDowell,  Fremont,  and  Banks,  which  were 
nigh  at  hand.  At  this  period,  Jackson,  once 
more,  was  of  great  service  to  Lee  and  the 
Southern  cause  in  continuing  his  daring  oper- 
ations in  the  Virginia  Valley,  where  he  was  now 
joined  by  E well's  division,  and  with  whose  co- 
operation he  fell  first  upon  Fremont,  whom  he 
drove  back  upon  Western  Virginia,  and  then 
attacked  and  routed  Banks,  who  fled  across  the 
Potomac.  These  Northern  repulses  foiled  any 
hope  of  McDowell's  joining  McClellan,  and  com- 


THE  DRA.MA  OPENS.  87 

pelled  the  latter  to  rely  upon  his  own  already 
large  resources.  The  situation  of  the  South  at 
this  time  was,  moreover,  brightened ;  while  Lee 
and  his  army,  still  holding  McClellan  in  check 
on  the  Chickahominy,  was  encouraged,  by  the 
brilliant  reconnaissance  ride  of  General  Stuart 
and  his  Southern  cavalry  command  round  the 
whole  of  the  widely-extended  lines  of  the  Federal 
position,  during  which  Stuart  and  his  men  did 
much  serviceable  work  in  learning  of  the  strength 
and  weakness  of  McClellan's  lines,  as  well  as  in 
harassing  the  outposts  of  the  enemy. 

At  this  juncture  in  the  South's  affairs,  General 
Lee  had  a  heavy  and  responsible  duty  to  face, 
having  in  front  of  him,  within  only  five  or  six 
miles  of  Richmond,  a  Northern  army,  eleven 
divisions  strong,  with  but  five  divisions,  at  most, 
under  him,  to  pit  against  this  unequal  force. 
Disposing  his  command — which  consisted  of  the 
divisions  under  Huger,  Longstreet,  Magruder, 
A.  P.  Hill,  and  D.  H.  Hill— to  the  best  advan- 
tage, Lee  saw  that  his  best  tactics  lay  in  attack- 
ing one  or  other  of  the  enemy's  flanks.  The  right 
flank  was  the  one  he  chose  to  operate  against, 
the  topographical  features  of  the  country  on 
McClellan's  right  and  rear  being  favorable  to 
assault  from  that  quarter.  Moreover,  the  in- 


85  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE, 

formation  which  General  Stuart  had  gleaned  for 
him,  in  his  daring  ride  round  McClellan's  lines, 
confirmed  Lee  in  his  decision  to  attack  the  enemy 
on  the  right.  In  thus  deciding,  he  was  also  in- 
fluenced by  the  brilliant  movements  of  "  Stone- 
wall "  Jackson  in  the  Virginia  Valley,  and  the 
distractions  caused  McClellan  by  these  exploits, 
which  brought  "Stonewall"  in  rear  of  the  Fed- 
eral right,  and  in  a  position  to  aid  Lee  in  the 
vigorous  onslaught  he  was  about  to  undertake. 
Now  was  launched  the  famous  Seven  Days'  con- 
flict (June  2  6- July  2),  which  brought  conster- 
nation to  the  Federal  commander,  and  not  only 
foiled  him  in  his  anticipated  capture  of  the 
"  rebel "  capital,  but  caused  his  entire  plans  to 
miscarry,  and  actually  drove  him  and  his  in- 
vading army  from  the  Peninsula.  The  vigor 
and  daring,  as  well  as  the  brilliance,  of  Lee's 
operations,  which  resulted  in  this  signal  discom- 
fiture of  his  boastful  Northern  adversary,  were 
conspicuous  throughout  the  Seven  Days'  battles  ; 
while  their  success  caused  renewed  despair  at 
Washington,  and  correspondingly  elated  the 
whole  South.  They,  moreover,  infused  fresh 
ardor  into  all  ranks  of  the  Confederate  armies, 
and  increasingly  stiffened  the  back  of  rebellion. 
Nor  was  McClellan's  failure  in  the  Peninsular 


THE  DRA.MA  OPENS.  89 

campaign  simply  a  defeat,  or  rather  a  series  of 
defeats  ;  it  came  near  involving  the  destruction 
or  surrender  of  the  entire  army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  that  in  spite  of  the  stubborn  fightings  which 
marked  almost  the  whole  course  of  the  retreat 
from  the  Chickahominy  to  the  James  River, 
and  the  skill  shown  by  the  Federal  commander 
in  extricating  himself  and  his  forces  from  the 
region,  which  Nature  had  further  rendered  a 
toilsome  and  difficult  one  to  penetrate.  Amply, 
however,  was  Lee  rewarded  by  the  success  he 
achieved,  splendidly  aided  as  he  was  by  the 
loyal  support  and  active,  determined  work  of  his 
ably  co-operating  generals. 

Of  the  latter  generals,  Lee  received  perhaps  the 
greatest  assistance  from  Stonewall  Jackson,  who, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  operating  in  the  Virginia 
Valley,  and  had  just  defeated  Fremont  at  Cross 
Keys  and  Shields  at  Port  Republic  (June  8-9). 
From  the  Valley  Lee  had  asked  Jackson  to  come 
secretly  to  his  aid,  leaving  in  the  region  only  such 
portions  of  his  command  as  were  necessary  to 
keep  watch  over  the  Northern  corps  he  had  been 
fighting,  and  concealing  from  the  enemy  the 
suggested  junction  with  General  Lee.  To  replace 
Jackson's  own  personal  command,  Lee  had 
directed  Brigadier- Generals  Lawton  and  Whiting, 


90  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

with  their  respective  corps,  to  join  "Stonewall*1 
and  aid  him  in  crushing  the  Northerners  in  the 
Valley,  and  then,  with  his  main  body,  including 
EwelPs  division  and  Lawton  and  Whiting's  con- 
tingents, move  rapidly  to  Ashland,  thence  sweep 
down  between  the  Chickahominy  and  the  Pamun- 
key,  where  it  was  hinted  Jackson  could  cut  the 
enemy's  communications  while  Lee  was  to  attack 
McClellan  in  front.  For  a  time,  McClellan  was  in 
the  dark  about  this  understanding  between  Lee 
and  Jackson,  which  was  arranged  more  in  detail 
at  a  personal  conference  between  the  two  Confed- 
erate leaders  on  a  flying  visit  to  Richmond. 
McClellan,  moreover,  was  purposely  misled  not 
only  as  to  this  co-operating  movement,  but  also  as 
to  the  strength  of  the  Southern  forces  to  be  brought 
against  him,  which  he  seems  to  have  reckoned  at 
the  preposterously  extravagant  number  of  200,000 
men.  The  truth  is,  the  Confederate  strength 
under  Lee  at  this  time  was  not  over  81,000,  to  pit 
against  which  the  Union  had  a  fighting  force  of 
105,000  effective  men. 

At  last  McClellan  gained  a  knowledge  of  the 
movement  against  his  right  flank  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Chickahominy,  in  which,  besides 
Jackson's  command,  the  two  Hills,  Longstreet, 
and  Branch,  were  to  take  part ;  while  Lee  left 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  91 

Holmes,  Magruder,  and  Huger,  to  make  a 
counter-demonstration  upon  the  Federal  front. 
In  beginning  to  carry  out  the  movement,  Jackson 
and  Branch,  guided  by  Stuart's  cavalry,  reached 
Ashland  on  June  25,  after  which  the  combined 
columns  pressed  on  towards  Cold  Harbor.  On  the 
following  day,  D.  H.  Hill  rather  unexpectedly 
gave  battle  to  Fitz-John  Porter  at  Mechanicsville, 
and  after  a  stiff  fight  he  pressed  the  latter's  com- 
mand back  to  Beaver  Dam  Creek  and  Games'  Mill. 
At  New  Cold  Harbor,  the  fighting  became  general, 
Lee  having  ordered  a  combined  assault  in  force 
against  Porter,  in  which  the  corps  of  Jackson, 
Ewell,  Longstreet,  Whiting,  and  the  two  Hills, 
took  an  active  and  at  times  a  daring  part.  For  a 
time  the  rebel  attack  was  met  chiefly  by  Porter's 
artillery  ;  though,  as  the  assault  was  pressed,  the 
Northern  commander  continued  to  fall  back,  a 
movement  which,  as  a  whole,  was  now  decided 
upon  by  McClellan,  who  sought  to  reach  the 
James  River,  about  twenty-five  miles  distant, 
through  the  intricacies  of  the  White  Oak  Swamp. 
The  federal  position  was  now  one  of  extreme  peril, 
and  much  depended  upon  Porter's  tactics  of 
defense,  so  as  to  allow  time  for  the  withdrawal  of 
the  mass  of  McClellan's  army  and  prevent  Jack- 
son, at  Lee's  bidding,  from  getting  in  rear  of  him 


92  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

and  cutting  off  his  retreat.  As  Hill  pressed  the 
Federals  at  this  juncture,  in  the  face  of  a  furious 
fire,  he  discovered  the  strength  of  Porter's  position  ; 
but  he  nevertheless  continued  gallantly  to  assail 
them,  aided,  at  Lee's  instructions,  by  Longstreet's 
division,  and  later  by  those  of  Ewell  and  Whiting. 
Still  later,  Hill  was  cheered  by  the  approach  of 
the  indomitable  Jackson's  division,  when  the 
Federals  fell  back  from  Beaver  Dam  Creek  in  con- 
fusion ;  though  they  saved  themselves  from  fur- 
ther disaster  by  the  coming  on  of  night,  as  well  as 
by  the  nature  of  the  region,  which  made  it  difficult 
for  effective  pursuit  in  the  darkness.  The  losses 
on  both  sides  were  heavy  from  the  day's  opera- 
tions, and  nightfall  was  consequently  hailed  with 
gladness,  especially  by  the  Northerners,  who  fell 
back  on  the  Powhite  Creek. 

Meanwhile,  the  main  Federal  army  had  with- 
drawn from  its  base  at  the  White  House,  on  the 
Pamunkey,  and  the  line  of  the  York  River  rail- 
road, taking  with  it  such  of  its  equipment  and 
baggage  as  could  be  carried  off  in  retreat,  and  des- 
troying the  remainder — a  large  amount  of  Federal 
property— besides  burning  the  bridge,  on  the  way 
back  to  the  James.  At  Savage  Station  and  the 
neighborhood  there  were  several  hot  brushes  with 
the  retreating  Federals,  in  which  many  of  the 


THE  DRAMA  OPENS.  93 

latter  were  taken  prisoners  ;  while  for  a  time  a 
determined  stand  was  made  at  Frazier's  Farm  by 
the  commands  under  Sumner  and  Heintzelman. 
Here,  on  June  30,  the  Southern  columns  were 
held  stiffly  in  check,  in  spite  of  the  vigorous  as- 
saults of  the  forces  under  Jackson,  Longstreet, 
and  A.  P.  Hill ;  while  another  battle  was  fought 
at  Malvern  Bridge,  and  simultaneous  fighting 
went  on  along  all  the  swampy  country  over  which 
the  Federals  were  retreating,  back  as  far  as  West- 
over,  which  McClellan  reached  on  July  4,  and 
where  he  eagerly  sought  the  safety  of  the  strong 
Federal  defensive  works  there,  protected  by  the 
Northern  gunboats  in  the  river. 

With  McClellan's  retreat,  Lee  had  been  able 
not  only  to  bring  relief  to  the  Confederate  capital, 
but  to  unite  the  entire  forces  of  his  varied  com- 
mand on  the  south  side  of  the  Chickahominy  and 
deliver  the  many  offensive  attacks  which  marked 
the  period  of  the  Seven  Days'  battles.  From 
these  almost  continuous  assaults  McClellan  nar- 
rowly escaped  destruction  or  enforced  surrender, 
mainly  owing  to  the  inferior  numbers  of  the 
Southern  fighting  armies  and  to  the  difficult 
country  through  which  the  Federal  commander- 
in-chief  had  cleverly  conducted  his  retreat.  Even 
at  Westover,  where  he  had  strong  entrenchments 


94-  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

to  take  shelter  in  and  the  Union  gunboats  in  the 
James  to  protect  him,  McClellan  barely  saved 
his  force  from  the  strategy  of  Major-General 
Stuart,  who,  with  great  sagacity,  seized,  and 
against  stout  Federal  opposition  pluckily  held  for 
a  time,  Evelington  Heights,  an  eminence  overlook- 
ing Westover  that  commanded  the  entire  position 
occupied  by  the  Northern  army  after  its  retreat. 
In  the  Seven  Days'  fighting  the  losses  on  each  side 
exceeded  fifteen  thousand  men,  the  casualties 
naturally  falling  more  heavily  on  the  Southern 
side,  as  the  offensive  one  throughout  the  repulse. 
In  addition,  the  Northerners  lost  many  guns,  as 
well  as  captured  men  and  equipment ;  while  they 
also  burned  in  their  retreat  very  considerable 
military  shores,  tents,  baggage,  and  other  camp- 
appurtenances.  To  Lee,  the  successes  of  the  period 
were  not  all  he  had  hoped  for  and  had  brilliantly 
sought  to  achieve ;  but  he  made  few  mistakes, 
and  had  much  to  felicitate  himself  upon,  with  a 
heightened  record  for  coolness,  reliance,  and  sa- 
gacity, and  increased  reputation  for  superb  skill 
in  planning,  and  great  force  and  effectiveness  in 
executing,  his  operations. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   CAMPAIGN   AGAINST   POPE   IN  NORTHERN  VIR- 
GINIA, AND  THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OP  BULL  RUN. 

THE  failure  of  McClellan's  operations  in  the 
Virginia  Peninsula  was  naturally  disconcerting  to 
the  Federal  Administration  at  Washington  and 
led  to  further  alarm  over  the  safety  of  the  capital, 
as  well  as  to  a  call  (July  2)  for  300,000  volunteers, 
for  a  term  of  service  of  three  years.  The  War 
Department,  a  week  later,  moreover,  appointed 
Major-General  Halleck  commander-in-chief,  and 
about  the  same  time  gave  the  command  of  the 
Army  of  Virginia,  for  the  protection  of  the  Fed- 
eral capital,  to  Major- General  John  Pope,  one  of 
Halleck's  divisional  commanders  in  the  West,  who 
had  gained  some  reputation  by  the  capture,  in 
February,  1862,  of  Island  No.  8,  in  the  Mississippi. 
These  appointments,  as  it  turned  out,  however, 
were  mere  makeshifts,  resorted  to  in  the  dilemma 
the  Washington  authorities  found  themselves  in, 
with  such  masterly  Southern  fighters  actively  in 

the  field  as  Lee  and  Stonewall  Jackson.     They 

95 


96  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

were  also  made  in  consequence  of  the  shaking  of 
Northern  confidence  in  McClellan,  who  was  now 
ordered  by  Halleck  to  withdraw  his  army  from 
jthe  James  River  and  place  it  under  the  direction 
of  Pope,  in  front  of  Washington.  This  was  what 
Lee  most  desired,  as  it  not  only  removed  the 
menace  involved  in  the  presence  of  100,000  Fed- 
eral troops  within  striking  distance  of  Rich- 
mond, but  freed  the  great  Southern  chieftain  and 
his  army  to  test  Pope's  metal  in  operations  north 
of  the  Rappahannock.  The  measure  of  Pope's 
ability  was  presently  now  to  be  taken  and  put  to 
the  test ;  already,  by  his  boastful  General  Order 
on  assuming  the  chief  command,  he  had  discred- 
ited his  sagacity  as  a  general  officer  and  gained  for 
himself  the  jeers  of  friend  and  foe  alike.  Nor 
did  his  proclamations  in  regard  to  unarmed 
citizens  and  private  property,  in  the  section  of 
Northern  Virginia  where  his  command  was,  man- 
ifest either  tact  or  humanity.  Otherwise,  he 
acted  wisely  in  collecting  together  under  him  the 
scattered  brigades  of  McDowell,  Fremont,  and 
Banks,  amounting  to  close  upon  60,000  men,  and 
advancing  them  across  the  Rappahannock,  menac- 
ingly near  to  both  Gordonsville  and  Charlottes- 
ville,  important  intersecting  points  in  Northern 
Virginia. 


CAMPAIGN  IN  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA,  97 

To  oppose  this  movement  of  Pope,  General 
Lee  once  more  relied  upon  his  sturdy  lieutenant 
in  arms,  General  Stonewall  Jackson,  whom  he 
directed  to  move,  with  E well's  command,  to 
Gordonsville,  where  he  arrived  on  July  19.  A 
week  later,  Jackson's  army  was  strengthened  by 
the  junction  with  it  of  A.  P.  Hill's  division — a 
combined  force  of  about  19,000  men,  against  which 
it  had  more  than  double  that  number  so  far  op- 
posed to  it  under  Pope.  On  being  apprised  of  Jack- 
son's presence  at  Gordonsville,  the  new  Federal 
Commander-in-chief  directed  General  Banks  to  ad- 
vance with  his  force  of  28,000  from  Cedar  Run  to 
join  him.  In  obeying  this  command  of  his 
superior,  Banks  got  as  far  as  Culpeper  Court 
House,  near  which  Jackson's  advance  came  across 
him  and  gave  him  battle,  aided  by  the  brigades 
under  Ewell  and  Early.  At  a  crisis  in  the  con- 
test that  ensued,  "  Stonewall "  himself  was  im- 
pelled to  take  the  field,  at  the  head  of  his  own 
brigade,  and  with  the  timely  help  of  a  portion  of 
A.  P.  Hill's  division,  that  had  come  up  at  the  junc- 
ture when  it  was  going  ill  with  the  Confederate 
forces,  the  Federal  attacks  were  repulsed,  and 
Banks  and  his  army  were  driven  in  rout  from 
the  field,  leaving  upon  it  his  Northern  dead  and 
wounded.  Af  t*»i*  the  victory — known  as  the  battle 


98  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

of  Cedar  Kun — Jackson,  on  the  following  day 
(Aug.  10),  learning  that  Banks  was  being  heavily 
reinforced,  recrossed  the  Rapidan  and  returned 
to  Gordonsville.  His  object  in  this  was  to  await 
developments  in  a  stronger  position,  when  Pope  or 
Banks  was  ready  to  resume  fighting,  and  also  to 
enable  him  the  better  to  keep  in  touch  with 
General  Lee. 

At  length,  to  General  Lee's  relief,  who  feared, 
when  McClellan's  army  joined  Pope,  that  a  con- 
centrated movement  upon  Richmond  directly 
from  the  North  would  ensue,  McClellan  betook 
himself  from  the  James,  his  army  being  returned 
to  Washington  by  sea  from  Harrison's  Landing, 
close  to  Westover,  where  his  camp  for  some  time 
had  been.  Already  Pope  had  advanced  his  bat- 
teries to  the  north  bank  of  the  Rapidan ;  and 
thither,  on  the  south  bank,  Lee  began  to  remove 
his  army,  with  the  design  of  proceeding  north  to 
the  Rappahannock  to  execute  a  purpose  which  he 
in  concert  with  Jackson  and  Longstreet,  had  con- 
ceived, of  getting  in  rear  of  Pope's  left  flank,  and 
with  another  portion  of  his  army  to  get  round  the 
Federal  right  and  cut  the  Northern  army's  com- 
munications with  Washington.  From  August 
25th  to  the  27th,  saw  the  initial  movements  of  this 
daring  design  put  in  execution,  by  way  of 


CAMPAIGN  IN  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA.  9$ 

Thoroughfare  Gap,  the  narrow  pass  iu  Bull  Run 
mountain  close  to  Manassas.  To  strengthen  his 
forces  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  clever 
piece  of  tactics,  Lee  had  ordered  up  from  Rich- 
mond the  divisions  under  D.  H.  Hill,  Wilkes,  and 
McLaws,  which,  on  their  arrival,  gave  Lee  a  com- 
bined force  of  nearly  60,000  men,  to  pit  against 
Pope's  total,  of  close  upon  92,000  ;  for  the  latter 
had  summoned  Burnside's  and  King's  commands 
from  Fredericksburg  to  join  him.  To  add  to 
the  Federal  hosts,  McClellan's  advance  corps,  to- 
gether with  those  of  Porter,  Sumner,  and  Heint- 
zelman,  were  now  pouring  in  from  Fredericks- 
burg  and  Alexandria.  In  spite  of  his  greater 
strength,  Pope  was  nevertheless  in  much  bewilder- 
ment as  to  the  possible  quarters  from  which  the 
Confederate  generals  would  launch  their  attacks 
upon  him  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  he  was  anx- 
ious to  meet  successively  their  commands  in  ac- 
tion rather  than  have  to  fight  a  united  Southern 
army  in  the  field.  Especially  did  he  seek  to  pre- 
vent the  junction  of  Lee,  Longstreet,  and  Jackson, 
or  any  two  of  them,  until  he  himself  had  had  some 
measure  of  success,  and  had  tried  his  luck  with 
one  or  other  of  them  separately.  He  was  soon 
now  to  obtain  what  he  desired,  and  indeed  more 
than  he  cared  to  grapple  with,  and  with  disastrous 


100  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

results  to  his  reputation  and  tragic  consequences 
to  his  Northern  army.  While  in  the  midst  of 
these  anxieties,  Jackson's  20,000  men  were  res- 
olutely pressing  forward  to  Manassas  Junction  ; 
while  Longstreet  took  up  a  position  at  Orleans, 
leaving  Lee,  meanwhile,  to  keep  watch  on  the 
river  at  Waterloo  and  send  a  supporting  corps  to 
Jackson  and  Longstreet.  By  August  27th,  the 
latter  had  covered  the  fifteen  miles  between 
Orleans  and  White  Plains,  thence  to  his  junction 
with  "  Stonewall "  at  the  eastern  end  of  Thorough- 
fare Gap,  seven  miles  further  on.  Hither  Lee  him- 
self came  to  overlook  the  ground  and  confer  with 
his  veteran  generals,  some  of  whose  corps  were 
now  grappling  with  the  enemy  and  falling  on  the 
Federal  flank.  In  the  region,  Jackson,  with  the 
aid  of  Stuart's  and  Trimble's  cavalry  contingent, 
had  come  upon  the  Federal  rear  with  such  sur- 
prise that  they  fell  upon  Pope's  immense  army 
supplies,  and  had  for  once  a  day's  high  carnival 
on  the  bounties  furnished  by  the  Northern  com- 
missariat. To  Jackson's  indifferently  garbed,  ill 
foot-shod,  and  poorly-fed  men,  operating  in  a 
country  largely  overrun  by  an  enemy,  the  falling 
upon  the  Federal  army  stores  was  at  the  period  a 
God-send,  though  little  beyond  the  most  pressing 
necessities  of  the  command,  with  a  day's  good  and 


CAMPAIGN  IN  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA.          101 

appetizing  rations,  could  be  made  use  of ;  while 
the  great  bulk  of  them,  as  the  spoils  of  war,  had 
to  be  destroyed  or  given  to  the  flames,  it  having 
been  impossible  just  then  to  transport  them  to 
the  "rebel"  lines. 

By  the  28th  of  August,  Jackson  and  his  eager, 
alert  command,  with  shotted  guns,  reached  Grove- 
ton,  adjoining  Warrenton,  close  by  the  old  battle- 
ground of  Bull  Run.  Meanwhile,  several  corps 
of  the  enemy  were  converging  upon  Centreville, 
Pope's  headquarters,  where  some  of  "Stone- 
wall's  "  brigades  engaged  a  column  under  King, 
of  McDowell's  command,  and  forced  it  to  retreat. 
Next  day  (the  29th)  Jackson  (20,000  strong)  was 
again  in  hot  conflict  with  the  Federals  between 
Groveton  and  Sudley.  Here,  on  Jackson's  left, 
the  enemy,  about  35,000  in  number,  under  Sigel, 
supported  later  in  the  day  by  Reno  and  Heintz- 
elman,  were  making  a  tremendous  onslaught 
on  the  "rebel"  veterans.  These  Federal  onsets 
were  repeated  half  a  dozen  times  during  the  day, 
the  final  assault  being  made  about  5  p.  m.  by 
the  divisions  of  Kearney  and  Stevens,  though 
Jackson's  men  had  hardly  ammunition  left,  after 
the  long  day's  expenditure  of  it,  to  repel  the  last 
attack.  All  the  Federal  assaults  were  success- 
fully beaten  off  by  Stonewall's  invincible  com- 


102  ^FE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

mand.  During  the  day,  General  Lee,  though 
unknown  to  Pope,  was  a  keen  and  watchful 
onlooker  of  the  tactful  operations  of  his  able  and 
resourceful  lieutenant,  his  army  being  drawn  up 
across  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  and  alongside  the 
brigades  under  Longstreet  ;  while  Pope  was 
strengthened  by  the  coming  of  Porter  and  Mc- 
Dowell and  their  commands  from  Manassas.  The 
conflict  was  renewed  on  the  morrow  (Aug.  30th), 
by  the  advance  of  Porter's  army,  flanked  by  the 
divisions  of  King  and  Reynolds,  on  Jackson's  left 
center.  The  delivery  of  these  assaults  was  vig- 
orously met  by  Jackson's  "Ironsides"  under 
Starke  and  Lawton  ;  while  the  Confederate  bat- 
teries were  unerringly  directed  under  the  eye  of 
Lee  and  A.  P.  Hill.  Later  in  the  day,  the  play 
of  these  guns,  with  their  enfilading  fire,  wrought 
dire  havoc  among  the  Federal  masses,  follow- 
ing which  came  a  splendid  charge  of  Longstreet's 
brigade  that  broke  the  Federal  lines  and  drove 
the  Unionist  troops  into  a  confused  stampede. 
Nightfall  saw  fugitive  masses  rushing  across  the 
Bull  Run,  Pope  himself  seeking  safety  in  his 
headquarters  at  Centre ville.  The  following  day 
(Sunday,  the  31st),  the  pursuit  of  the  Federals 
was  pressed  by  Lee,  when  Pope  ordered  a  retreat 
to  Fairfax,  Jackson's  command  taking  up  the 


CAMPAIGN  IN  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA.  1Q3 

pursuit  on  Monday  in  a  rainstorm  so  furious  as 
to  render  firearms  useless,  save  for  the  bayonet, 
which  came  effectually  and  fatally  into  play. 
Thus  was  Pope  driven  in  dismay  from  the  Vir- 
ginia borders,  and  for  the  time  being  the  weary, 
footsore  Southern  forces  had  a  brief  spell  of  well- 
earned  rest. 


CHAPTEE  VIH. 

THE  MARYLAND    CAMPAIGN. 

THE  Federal  rout  at  the  second  battle  of  Bull 
Run  was  reported  to  President  Davis  by  General 
Lee,  in  his  usual  modest  and  restrained  manner, 
from  his  temporary  resting-place  at  Chantilly, 
on  the  3rd  of  September.  The  effect  upon  the 
North  of  the  entire  failure  of  the  campaign  in 
Virginia  was  extremely  depressing,  and  roused 
much  impatient  criticism  of  the  War  Department 
and  its  luckless  commanders.  A  further  effect 
of  the  Federal  disasters  was  to  revive  national 
fears  for  the  safety  of  the  capital,  besides  dread 
of  invasion  by  the  South  of  the  border  States 
which  had  remained  loyal  to  the  Union.  Lee  in- 
formed President  Davis  that  the  two  days'  con- 
flict at  Bull  Run  cost  the  enemy  a  loss  of  8,000 
men  in  killed  and  wounded,  among  the  former 
being  the  Union  General  Kearny,  who  was  left. 
dead  on  the  field  ;  while  the  Confederates  lost 
five  colonels  killed  and  six  general  officers  wound- 
ed, among  the  latter  being  Generals  Ewell  and 

104 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.  1Q5 

Trimble.  He  further  reported  that  about  7,000 
prisoners  had  been  taken  and  parolled  ;  while 
thirty  pieces  of  cannon,  many  thousand  stand 
of  small  arms,  and  a  large  number  of  wagons, 
ambulances,  and  other  stores,  were  captured,  in 
addition  to  the  large  amount  of  Federal  property 
destroyed  by  the  Union  forces  in  retreat.  At  this 
period,  General  Lee  himself  suffered  an  accidental 
injury  to  his  left  hand,  which  for  a  short  while 
kept  him  out  of  the  saddle.  He  was,  neverthe- 
less, anxious  to  press  discomfiture  further  home 
upon  the  North,  by  crossing  the  Potomac  and 
invading  Maryland,  where,  doubtless,  the  South 
had  many  sympathizers,  though  they  were  nat- 
urally under  more  or  less  Federal  pressure  and 
restraint.  His  army  was  at  this  period,  however, 
indifferently  equipped  for  invasion,  lacking  sup- 
plies of  all  kinds,  alike  in  the  commissary's  and  in 
the  quartermaster's  departments,  and  in  need  of 
rest  as  well  as  of  refreshment.  For  some  months 
back,  it  had  endured  almost  continued  privation  ; 
while  the  stress  of  the  campaign  had  been  severe 
on  its  now  greatly  depleted  ranks.  In  spite  of 
all  this,  and  of  the  lack  of  adequate  ammunition, 
with  an  inefficient  transport  service,  Lee  was 
eager  to  prosecute  the  war  across  the  Potomac  ; 
and  this  he  set  out  to  do,  leading  his  immediate 


106  kJFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

command  in  the  direction  of  Frederick,  Md.  On 
arriving  there  (Sept.  8),  followed  by  the  brigades 
under  Jackson,  D.  H.  Hill,  and  Longstreet,  with 
a  scouting  force  under  the  vigilant  Stuart,  Lee 
issued  a  proclamation  to  the  people  of  Maryland, 
in  the  nature  of  a  greeting  to  a  sister  State,  al- 
lied to  the  South  by  traditional,  social  and  politi- 
cal ties,  and  assuring  them  of  protection,  and, 
if  they  desired  it,  aid  in  freeing  the  State  from 
"the  condition  of  a  conquered  province."  The 
proclamation  was  discreetly  as  well  as  temperately 
worded  ;  but  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed 
seemed  loath  at  present  to  assert  sovereign  inde- 
peridence  for  their  State,  and,  by  throwing  in  their 
lot  with  the  South,  bring  upon  themselves  Fed- 
eral vengeance.  Hence  Lee  did  not  get  the  sup- 
port he  expected  in  the  State,  and  that  chiefly  be- 
cause his  hoped-for  allies  were  in  Southern  and 
Eastern  Maryland,  between  whom  and  himself 
lay  a  strong  force  of  the  Federal  army  under 
McClellan,  who  had  once  more  been  given  the 
chief  Unionist  command.  The  Southern  leader 
lost  no  time,  however,  in  vain  regret,  but  pre- 
sently turned  his  attention  to  rid  the  region  to  the 
west  of  him  and  the  Virginia  Valley  of  Union 
troops,  and  get  up  from  Winchester  the  much- 
needed  supplies  for  his  army. 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.  107 

While  McClellan  was  in  search  of  Lee  to  bring 
him  again  to  battle,  the  great  Southern  leader 
desired  to  keep  his  old  adversary  and  his  freshly- 
organized  army  of  nearly  90,000  men  away  from 
his  base  of  supplies.  With  this  intent,  he  now 
withdrew  from  Frederick,  arid  moved  northward 
via  Boonsboro'  towards  Hagerstown.  But  Lee 
had  another  purpose  in  view  in  making  this  move- 
ment, which  was  the  daring  one  of  capturing  the 
Federal  garrisons  and  occupying  Martinsburg  and 
Harper's  Ferry.  These  posts,  General  Halleck 
had  ordered  still  to  be  held,  in  spite  of  McClellan's 
suggestion  that  they  should  be  vacated,  while 
Maryland  was  invaded  by  Lee  and  his  army.  To 
secure  them,  cut  off  their  garrisons'  retreat  down 
the  Potomac,  and  capture  the  well-stored  arsenal, 
with  its  munitions  of  war,  of  Harper's  Ferry, 
while  clearing  the  Virginia  Valley  from  all  possi- 
ble interference  with  his  communications,  Lee 
entrusted  Jackson  and  Ewell  with  the  task,  giv- 
ing them  the  assistance  also  of  Hill's  division, 
with  those  of  McLaws,  Anderson,  and  Walker. 
The  execution  of  the  project  was  unexpectedly 
but  gratifyingly  successful ;  for  on  the  approach 
of  Hill's  command  the  Martinsburg  garrison  evac- 
uated the  place  and  withdrew  to  Harper's  Ferry  ; 
while  the  latter,  after  a  stiff  fight  for  the  com- 


108  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

manding  Federal  positions  on  Maryland  and  Boli- 
var Heights,  overlooking  the  post,  and  a  hot  bom- 
bardment, hoisted  the  white  flag  of  surrender  to 
Jackson .  and  Hill.  With  the  fall  of  Harper's 
Ferry  (Sept.  14),  the  Confederates  captured  11,000 
Federal  troops,  over  TO  pieces  of  artillery,  13,000 
stand  of  arms,  besides  200  wagons  and  a  large 
amount  of  army  stores.  Leaving  Hill  to  receive 
the  surrender  and  look  after  the  captured  treas- 
ure, Jackson  hastened  back  by  forced  marches 
with  his  command  to  Sharpsburg,  in  answer  to 
an  urgent  call  from  Lee,  whose  army  was  sud- 
denly confronted  by  that  of  McClellan,  the  Fed- 
eral commander  having  obtained  possession  of  a 
confidential  memorandum  of  Lee  to  D.  H.  Hill, 
outlining  the  plan  of  his  projected  campaign. 
The  possession  of  this  communication,  however 
obtained,  was  of  great  value  to  McClellan,  and 
for  once  the  latter  took  instant  advantage  of  it, 
and  urged  forward  his  army  to  checkmate  the 
Southern  chieftain,  who  was  in  ignorance  of  the 
miscarriage  of  the  memorandum  of  instructions 
and  of  his  adversary's  knowledge  of  his  designs 
and  the  outlined  disposition  of  his  forces. 

The  appearance  of  the  Federal  main  body  so 
unexpectedly  at  Boonsboro'  was  at  first  an  em- 
barrassment, not  to  say  a  perplexity,  to  Lee,  as 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.  109 

well  as  an  alarming  menace,  considering  how  his 
army  had  been  broken  up  and  weakened  by  the 
despatch  of  portions  of  it  on  detached  expeditions. 
He,  however,  summoned  Longstreet's  command 
from  Hagerstown  to  the  support  of  Hill,  who  by 
this  time  was  keeping  at  bay  at  Fox's  Gap  a  strong 
Federal  force  under  Eeno,  and  at  Turner's  Gap 
was  also  fighting  off  a  furious  onset  by  Hooker, 
both  defensive  actions  being  gallantly  maintained 
through  the  entire  day  of  Sept.  14.  Southward 
from  Turner's  Gap,  at  another  pass  in  the  moun- 
tain ridge  in  the  vicinity  of  Boonsboro',  McLaws' 
small  contingent  was  on  the  same  day  driven  from 
the  Gap  (Crampton's)  he  sought  pluckily  to  defend 
against  a  force  of  8,000  belonging  to  Franklins' 
command.  The  prospect  was  hence  far  from 
cheering  to  General  Lee,  who  had  himself  to  give 
way  before  the  advance  of  McClellan's  main  body 
and  retire  upon  Sharpsburg,  to  which  place  he 
directed  McLaws  also  to  retreat  with  his  shattered 
corps.  Here,  at  Sharpsburg,  on  the  early  morn- 
ing of  the  15th,  Lee  made  what  disposition  of  his 
forces  was  possible  to  him  under  the  strained  cir- 
cumstances ;  though  by  noon  his  great  heart  was 
relieved  by  news  of  Jackson's  success  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  his  now  rapid  approach.  Gladdened 
by  the  news,  Lee  at  once  decided  to  give  Me- 


HO  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

Clellan  battle  at  Sharpsburg,  though  he  had,  as 
yet,  only  a  mere  handful  of  men  (not  over  12,000) 
to  oppose  to  the  advance  column  (about  60,000 
strong)  of  the  Unionist  army.  The  enemy,  more- 
over, was  inspirited  by  their  successes  and  by  the 
losses  (close  upon  3,000)  they  had  inflicted  on 
the  commands  of  Hill,  Longstreet,  and  McLaws  ; 
while  their  own  losses  were  much  smaller,  though 
the  Federal  General  Eeno  had  fallen,  and  they 
had  captured  many  prisoners.  But  the  fighting 
in  the  region  of  South  Mountain  was  but  the  pre- 
liminaries of  a  general  engagement,  which  was 
now  to  be  fought  in  the  neighborhood  of  Antie- 
tam  Creek,  in  front  of  Sharpsburg,  where  General 
Lee  had  taken  up  position. 

Here,  at  Sharpsburg,  on  the  16th  of  September, 
the  Federal  army  came  up  in  strong  force,  when 
McClellan  at  once  formed  his  lines  of  attack,  with 
Porter  in  the  center,  Burnside  on  his  left  flank, 
and  Hooker,  Franklin,  and  Sumner  on  his  right. 
Jackson  by  this  time  had  arrived  with  his  com- 
mand, and  was  assigned  to  a  position  on  the  Ha- 
.gerstown  road,  extending  towards  the  Potomac, 
supported  on  his  left  rear  by  Hood  and  Stuart, 
while  on  his  right  were  the  depleted  divisions  of 
Hill,  Longstreet,  and  Walker.  On  the  17th, 
Hooker's  command,  supported  by  Mansfield 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.  HI 

(18,000  strong),  which  had  crossed  the  Antietam, 
now  advanced,  covered  by  a  furious  cannonade, 
and  sought  to  get  possession  of  the  Hagerstown 
road.  Jackson  quickly  divined  the  Federal  move- 
ment and  its  purpose,  and  endeavored  to  oppose 
it  with  his  own  division,  and  Swell's,  under  Law- 
ton,  a  combined  force  of  but  4,000  men.  Lee's 
entire  army  was  now  still  under  35,000 ;  but,  in 
spite  of  the  great  disparity  in  numbers,  the  Con- 
federates once  more  exhibited  their  superiority  as 
a  fighting  force  by  repulsing,  throughout  a  long 
day's  sanguinary  encounter,  every  attack  of  the 
whole  army  of  the  enemy,  extending  along  its 
entire  front  for  fully  four  miles. 

The  chief  incidents  of  the  battle,  perhaps  the 
most  bloody  so  far  of  the  war,  were  the  des- 
perate defense  of  the  Confederate  left  line,  which 
brought  it  a  grim  harvest  of  death  from  the  en- 
filading fire  of  a  Federal  battery,  commandingly 
placed,  though  it  was  vigorously  replied  to  by  the 
guns  under  Stuart  and  S.  D.  Lee  ;  the  falling 
back  of  Jackson's  command,  on  the  advance  of 
Sumner,  after  having  heroically  repelled  both 
Hooker's  and  Mansfield's  corps,  and  exhausted 
its  ammunition  ;  and  the  murderous  fire  that  had 
fallen  on  Hayes'  and  Walker's  brigades  from  the 
overwhelming  Federal  onset.  Luckily  for  the 


112  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

Confederates,  Lee  was  able,  at  a  crisis  in  the 
day's  unequal  contest,  to  strengthen  Jackson 
with  two  brigades  from  Longstreet's  right,  and 
so  save  "Stonewall"  from  rout  by  or  surrender 
to  the  fresh  forces  Sumner  had  brought  up  after 
he  had  practically  driven  Hooker  and  Mansfield 
from  the  field.  This  timely  intervention  turned 
the  scale  in  the  "  rebel "  favor,  and  foiled  McClel- 
lan's  game  of  turning  Lee's  left.  Signal  also  was 
the  deliverance  during  the  day  from  Burnside's 
repeated  attempts  to  force  a  passage  across  the 
Stone  Bridge  over  the  Antietam  Creek,  with  the 
design  of  capturing  Sharpsburg,  and  so  cutting 
off  Lee  from  his  communications  at  Shepherds- 
town.  To  defend  the  Bridge  and  protect  Lee's 
center  during  the  conflict  on  the  Confederate  left, 
the  single  division  of  General  D.  E.  Jones,  of 
Longstreet's  command,  and  the  small  brigade  of 
General  Toombs  (only  400  strong)  was  all  that 
could  be  spared  to  keep  Burnside's  large  force  in 
eheck.  Late  in  the  afternoon,  the  latter  at  length 
forced  his  way  across  the  Creek  and  beat  back 
both  Toombs  and  Jones,  when  A.  P.  Hill's  2,000 
men  from  Harper's  Ferry  appeared  on  the  scene, 
and,  by  Lee's  orders,  rushed  to  Jones's  assistance, 
stemmed  the  retreat,  and  finally  drove  Burnside 
back  to  the  shelter  of  the  Federal  batteries  across 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.       H3 

the  Antietam.  Most  opportune  was  the  arrival 
and  prompt,  daring  service  of  Hill  and  his  com- 
<mand  at  the  juncture,  for  serious  would  have  been 
the  result  to  the  Southern  army  had  Burnside 
succeeded  in  his  attempt,  in  spite  even  of  the  suc- 
cess met  with  on  the  Confederate  left  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  bloody  field.  As  it  was,  dire  had  been 
the  day's  carnage,  and  pitiful  were  the  masses  of 
dead,  of  both  armies,  which  strewed  the  battle- 
field when  night  drew  its  pall  of  darkness  over  the 
scene.  Stubborn,  nevertheless,  was  Lee's  deter- 
mination to  renew  the  struggle  on  the  morrow, 
but  in  this  he  was  indifferently  supported  by  his 
chief  lieutenants,  after  a  council  of  war,  called 
by  Lee  at  the  close  of  the  day's  fighting,  for 
almost  entire  commands  had  been  annihilated, 
and  the  day's  havoc  might  well  make  the  stoutest 
heart  quail.  In  spite  of  this  adverse  counsel,  and 
the  suggestion  thrown  out  by  most  of  his  generals 
to  withdraw  across  the  Potomac,  Lee  held  to  his 
decision  to  renew  the  fighting  with  the  dawn  of 
a  new  day.  He  was  led  to  take  this  stand  from 
a  knowledge  of  the  punishment  the  Federals  had 
had,  and  the  dread  of  still  more  disastrous  conse- 
quences to  "the  boys  in  blue"  if  the  fighting 
was  renewed.  He  was  also  encouraged  by  the 
accession  he  had  gained  during  the  day  in  A.  P. 


LIFE  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

Hill's  command  from  Harper's  Ferry,  and  by  the 
return  to  their  respective  corps  of  several  thou- 
sands who  had  been  left  behind  to  recruit  their 
strength  and  provide  themselves  with  new  out- 
fits at  the  period  when  Lee's  army  had  entered 
Maryland. 

With  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  or  Antietam,  as 
it  is  also  called,  the  invasion  of  Maryland  came, 
however,  to  a  close  ;  for  though  Lee  remained  in 
possession  of  the  well-contested  battlefield  during 
the  day  of  Sept.  18,  awaiting  a  renewal  of  the 
fighting,  McClellau  did  not  venture  again  to 
attack  him,  but  spent  the  day  in  reorganizing  his 
shattered  army  and  strengthening  it  by  further 
reinforcements  from  Washington.  On  the  night 
of  the  18th,  as  the  Southern  army  was  badly  in 
need  of  every  necessary  want,  Lee  therefore 
deemed  it  wiser  to  fall  in  with  his  generals' 
suggestion  to  withdraw  across  the  Potomac  and 
seek  rest  and  refreshment  for  his  wearied  and 
comfortless  forces  on  the  Virginia  shore.  The 
crossing  was  effected  near  Shepherdstown,  every- 
thing of  value,  including  the  spoils  of  Harper's 
Ferry,  being  withdrawn,  save  his  unburied  dead  ; 
a  rear  force  being  left  to  guard  the  ford  over 
which  the  Confederates  retreated  and  foil  any 
attempt  by  the  enemy  in  pursuit.  The  bulk  of 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.  H5 

the  army  then  proceeded  to  Winchester  to  await 
the  coming  of  fresh  troops  from  Richmond,  with 
the  return  of  those  who  had  been  left  to  recruit 
their  strength  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  river, 
before  Maryland  had  been  invaded.  On  learning 
of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Southern  army,  McClellan 
despatched  Porter's  corps  in  pursuit,  only  to  be 
stopped  at  the  ford  by  Pendleton's  artillery  and  a 
small  rear-protecting  body  of  infantry.  Here,  on 
the  night  of  the  19th,  Porter,  however,  managed 
to  get  his  command  across  the  Potomac,  aided  in 
this  by  the  fire  of  his  own  guns  from  the  Mary- 
land shore.  When  this  became  known  to  Lee,  he 
directed  a  part  of  Hill's  division  to  return  to  the 
river  and  drive  Porter's  force  across  it.  This  was 
so  effectively  accomplished  that  masses  of  Porter's 
men  were  either  captured  or  driven  into  the  river 
and  drowned — an  exploit  that  so  alarmed  McClel- 
lan that  no  further  pursuit  of  the  Confederates 
was  for  the  time  attempted,  and  they  were  thus 
left  to  a  season  of  restful  quiet  at  Winchester. 
How  greatly  needed  was  this  period  of  rest  may 
be  realized  when  we  recall  that  the  Southern 
army  had  within  the  space  of  three  brief  months 
marched  fully  300  miles,  for  the  most  part  bare- 
footed and  in  tattered  regimentals,  with  no  ade- 
quate sustenance  ;  while  it  had  fought  in  and 


116  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

won  a  dozen  engagements,  captured  many  thou- 
sand prisoners,  besides  150  cannon,  many  thou- 
sand stand  of  arms,  and  a  large  amount  of  valuable 
army  stores  and  material  of  war.  It  had  also  in- 
flicted a  loss  upon  the  enemy  of  nearly  70,000  men, 
a  sixth  of  whom  had  fallen  at  Antietam  ;  while 
its  own  loss  in  the  latter  was  over  8,000,  out  of  a 
total  of  35,000 — the  entire  strength  of  the  Con- 
federate army  when  it  withdrew  to  Winchester. 
While  quartered  there,  General  Lee,  with  his 
usual  thoughtfulness,  issued  the  following  Gen- 
eral Order  (dated  Headquarters  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  Oct.  2,  1862),  reviewing  the 
incidents  of  the  campaign  and  commending  his 
army  for  its  valiant  achievements  : 

"  In  reviewing  the  achievements  of  the  army 
during  the  present  campaign,  the  Commanding 
General  cannot  withhold  the  expression  of  his 
admiration  of  the  indomitable  courage  it  has  dis- 
played in  battle,  and  its  cheerful  endurance  of 
privation  and  hardship  on  the  march. 

"  Since  your  great  victories  around  Richmond, 
you  have  defeated  the  enemy  at  Cedar  Mountain, 
expelled  him  from  the  Rappahannock,  and  after 
a  conflict  of  three  days,  utterly  repulsed  him  on 
the  Plains  of  Manassas,  and  forced  him  to  take 
shelter  within  the  fortifications  around  his  cap- 


THE  MARYLAND  CAMPAIGN.  H7 

ital.  Without  halting  for  repose,  you  crossed  the 
Potomac,  stormed  the  heights  of  Harpers  Ferry, 
made  prisoners  of  more  than  11,000  men,  and  cap- 
tured upwards  of  70  pieces  of  artillery,  all  their 
small  arms,  and  other  munitions  of  war.  While 
one  corps  of  the  army  was  thus  engaged,  the 
other  ensured  its  success  by  arresting,  at  Boons- 
boro',  the  combined  armies  of  the  enemy,  advanc- 
ing under  their  favorite  General  to  the  relief  of 
their  beleaguered  comrades. 

"  On  the  field  of  Sharpsburg,  with  less  than  one- 
third  his  numbers,  you  resisted,  from  daylight  till 
dark,  the  whole  army  of  the  enemy,  and  repulsed 
every  attack  along  his  entire  front,  of  more  than 
four  miles  in  extent.  The  whole  of  the  following 
day  you  stood  prepared  to  resume  the  conflict  on 
the  same  ground,  and  retired  next  morning,  with- 
out molestation,  across  the  Potomac.  Two  at- 
tempts, subsequently  made  by  the  enemy,  to  follow 
you  across  the  river,  have  resulted  in  his  complete 
discomfiture,  each  being  driven  back  with  loss. 

"Achievements  such  as  these  demanded  much 
valor  and  patriotism.  History  records  few  ex- 
amples of  greater  fortitude  and  endurance  than 
this  army  has  exhibited  ;  and  I  am  commissioned 
by  the  President  to  thank  you  in  the  name  of  the 
Confederate  States  for  the  undying  fame  you 


118  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

have  won  for  their  arms.  Much  as  you  have 
done,  much  more  remains  to  be  accomplished. 
The  enemy  again  threatens  us  with  invasion,  and 
to  your  tried  valor  and  patriotism  the  country 
looks  with  confidence  for  deliverance  and  safety. 
Your  past  exploits  give  assurance  that  this  con- 
fidence is  not  misplaced. 

R.  E.  LEE,  General  Commanding. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  FREDERICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN  (OCT. -DEC.,  1862)  ; 
AND  THE  EDICT  OF  EMANCIPATION. 

AFTER  issuing  the  appreciative  General  Order 
to  his  army,  given  at  the  close  of  the  last  chapter, 
General  Lee,  having  received  some  5,000  addi- 
tional troops,  cast  about  him  to  see  how  he  could 
best  pursue  the  struggle  and  continue  success- 
fully to  meet  his  adversary,  "  the  little  Napoleon." 
One  thing  was  now  clear  to  him,  that,  with  his 
small  army,  he  could  not  hope  again  to  take  the 
offensive  ;  all  he  could  well  do  was  to  keep  fur- 
ther watch  on  the  Federal  approaches  to  Rich- 
mond, harass  the  outposts  of  the  enemy,  and  by 
daring  raids  interfere  with  its  communications 
with  Washington,  and  learn  what  he  could  of  Mc- 
Clellan's  future  movements.  In  the  two  latter 
designs,  he  had  in  the  gallant  Stuart  and  his 
cavalry  command  a  highly  efficient,  as  well  as 
valiant  and  trusted,  aid.  On  the  8th  of  Oct.,  Lee 
directed  Stuart  to  make  a  reconnaissance  across  the 

Potomac,  with  portions  of  several  mounted  brig- 

119 


120  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ades  (some  600  in  number),  with  four  guns.  The 
crossing  was  effected  above  Williamsport,  whence 
the  column  moved  swiftly  through  Maryland, 
passing  by  the  right  of  McClellan,  and  even  entered 
Pennsylvania  as  far  as  Chambersburg.  Here, 
and  en  route,  Stuart  picked  up  fresh  horses  for  his 
troopers,  destroyed  a  considerable  amount  of 
Federal  stores  and  public  property,  and  returned 
by  McClellan's  left  flank,  ascertaining  his  position 
and  strength,  and  all  within  so  brief  a  time  as  to 
surprise  and  elude  the  Northern  army  he  had  cir- 
cled round,  besides  sending  a  thrill  of  fear,  by  his 
boldness  and  celerity  of  movement,  into  the  bosoms 
of  the  authorities  at  Washington.  The  results  of 
the  reconnaissance  were,  as  usual,  of  high  value  to 
Lee  ;  while  the  dashing  raid  roused  the  Federal 
Government  to  renewed  urgency  in  insisting  upon 
their  tardy,  deliberately  moving  Commander-in- 
chief  making  a  further  demonstration  against 
Richmond  and  the  Confederate  line  interposed  to 
protect  it.  Towards  the  close  of  October  found 
McClellan  once  more  crossing  the  Potomac,  this 
time  near  Berlin,  Va.,  below  Harper's  Ferry, 
which  before  this  had  been  reoccupied  by  a 
Northern  garrison,  followed  by  a  leisurely  advance 
in  the  direction  of  Warrenton  and  the  line  of  the 
Upper  Rappahannock.  To  meet  the  movement, 


THE  FREDERICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN.  121 

Lee  directed  Longstreet  to  hasten  with  his  com- 
mand across  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountain,  which  he 
promptly  did,  taking  up  a  position  under  Lee's 
eye  at  Culpeper  Court  House. 

At  this  juncture,  McClellan,  who,  by  his  pro- 
crastinations, had  lost  the  confidence  of  his  Wash- 
ington superiors,  was  relieved  of  his  command, 
which  was  now  given  to  General  Ambrose  E. 
Burnside,  an  officer  who  had  much  less  of  the 
genius  for  fighting  than  had  McClellan,  whom, 
moreover,  the  Northern  army  loved,  in  spite  of  his 
over-cautiousness  and  want  of  success.  Burnside's 
plan  of  campaign  had  for  its  objective  Richmond, 
though  he  first  sought  to  concentrate  his  various 
divisions,  under  Sumner,  Hooker,  and  Franklin, 
on  the  Rappahannock,  opposite  Fredericksburg. 
On  learning  this,  Lee  tactically  met  the  movement 
by  ordering  Longstreet  to  move  thither,  to  con- 
front Burnside ;  while,  a  little  later,  he  brought 
on  the  scene  the  redoubtable  Jackson,  who  by 
this  time  was  at  Orange  Court  House,  to  unite 
with  Longstreet  at  Fredericksburg.  Here,  on  the 
Stafford  Heights,  overlooking  the  town  and  the 
Rappahannock's  waters,  the  Union  army,  116,000 
strong,  was  massed  towards  the  close  of  November, 
the  Federal  artillery  being  in  a  position  to  sweep 
the  two  miles  plain  intervening  between  the  river 


122  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

and  the  bluffs  of  the  Spottsylvania  Hills,  where 
were  marshalled  "  Lee's  Legions,"  now  recruited 
to  a  total  strength  of  about  78,000.  A  couplo  of 
weeks  were  consumed  by  the  Federals  in  getting 
ready  their  pontoons  and  bridge-erecting  construc- 
tion to  enable  them  to  cross  the  river,  which  they 
contrived  to  do  in  large  force  on  the  day  and 
night  of  December  12th.  On  the  morning  of 
the  13th,  the  battle  began  by  a  vigorous  attack 
of  French's  division  against  the  Confederate 
right,  30,000  strong,  under  Jackson,  at  Hamil- 
ton's Crossing,  an  onslaught  which  was  finally 
repulsed  ;  while,  on  the  Federal  right,  the  forces 
under  Sumner  and  Hooker  moved  out  of  Fred- 
ericksburg  Town  and  attempted  to  storm  the 
Confederate  position  on  Marye's  Hill,  but  had  first 
to  cross  the  intervening  plain,  where  the  advanc- 
ing Northern  forces  were  successively  withered  by 
the  enfilading  fire  of  the  Confederate  artillery  and 
sharpshooters.  In  spite  of  this  destruction,  fresh 
troops  were  again  and  again  brought  forward  to 
the  assault,  but  with  the  same  result — practical 
annihilation — until  nightfall  brought  the  bloody 
conflict  to  a  close.  Fortunately  for  his  command, 
Burnside  wisely  desisted  in  his  design  of  renewing 
the  battle,  and  two  days  later  he  recrossed  the 
Bappahannock  with  his  dispirited  troops,  having 


THE  FREDERICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN.  123 

suffered  a  loss  of  over  12,600  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing.  The  Confederate  loss  in  the  battle 
was  close  upon  5,400,  but  the  rejoicings  of  "  the 
boys  in  gray "  were  great  at  the  victory.  After 
"  the  horror  of  Fredericksburg,"  the  two  armies 
spent  the  next  four  (winter)  months  in  quiet  on 
either  side  of  the  Rappahannock,  though  towards 
the  middle  of  January  (1863)  the  rash  Buruside 
was  dismissed  and  the  chief  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  was  given  to  "  Fighting 
Joe"— General  J.  E.  Hooker. 

The  year  we  now  enter  upon  saw  the  promul- 
gation (Jan.  1,  1863)  of  the  far-seeing  and  hu- 
mane Edict  of  Emancipation,  which  marked 
the  Lincoln  Administration's  executive  at  this 
period,  and  put  slavery  forever  under  legal  and 
moral  ban  in  the  States  and  Territories  of  the 
Union.  Emancipation,  it  is  true,  was  resorted  to 
as  "a  war  measure"  in  the  thick  of  the  deadly 
contest  between  the  two  sections  of  the  riven 
Nation ;  but  with  Lincoln,  long  before  the  era  of 
the  decree  and  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
which  abolished  slavery  forever  from  the  country, 
the  traffic,  as  we  have  elsewhere  observed,  had 
always  been  held  in  abhorrence,  and  deep  in  his 
mind  had  lain  the  thought  of  abolishing  it  or 
seeing  it  abolished.  The  immediate  effect  of  the 


124:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

measure,  as  we  know,  was  to  drive  the  South 
well-nigh  to  the  verge  of  desperation ;  while  at 
the  North  it  was  only  partially  accepted,  and  for 
a  time  it  aroused  even  bitter  animadversion. 
Happily,  however,  a  change  of  sentiment  came 
ere  long,  when  it  was  seen  what  freedom  meant 
to  the  slave,  and  how  telling  were  the  conse- 
quences of  emancipation  in  the  issues  of  the  war. 
The  act,  almost  entirely,  was  Lincoln's  own,  and 
its  consummation  did  surpassing  honor  to  him, 
as  well  as  to  his  Administration,  and,  at  large,  to 
the  people  who  endorsed  and  applauded  it. 

Before  resuming  the  narration  of  the  incidents 
connected  with  the  operations  of  the  two  hostile 
armies  on  the  Rappahannock,  let  us  glance  for 
a  little  at  the  operations  in  the  West  (chiefly 
Federal  successes),  in  the  latter  half  of  the  past 
year.  These  Western  operations,  it  is  true,  had 
nothing  to  do  with  General  Lee,  or  he  with  them  ; 
but  they  form  part  of  the  great  internecine  strug- 
gle of  the  time,  and,  hence,  should  find  some 
chronicle,  however  brief,  of  their  happenings  in 
this  historical  Memoir^  In  our  earlier  notice 
of  the  operations  in  the  Mississippi  region,  we 
indicated  the  motive  of  Federal  exploitation  on 
the  great  highway,  as  one  inspired  not  only  by 
the  purpose  of  getting  possession  of  the  river  and 


THE  FREDERICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN.  125 

the  important  towns  on  its  banks,  but  also  by 
the  intent  of  cutting  the  Confederacy  in  twain, 
and  so  limiting  the  area  of  sympathy  with,  if 
not  of  actual  aid  in,  Secession.  The  dual  pur- 
pose was  what  instigated  the  Federal  attack  on 
Island  No.  X.,  in  the  Mississippi,  and  the  move- 
ments of  General  Grant,  after  capturing  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson,  up  the  Tennessee  River  in 
the  direction  of  Corinth.  Of  the  operations  in 
the  region,  the  most  notable  was  the  battle  of 
Shiloh  or  Pittsburg  Landing  (April  6,  1862), 
when  Grant  was  driven  back  by  the  Confederate 
general,  who  lost  his  life  in  the  engagement, 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  and  but  for  the  timely 
arrival  of  Buell  and  his  command  would  have 
been  routed  by  the  Confederate  leader,  Beau- 
regard,  who,  later  on,  fell  back  upon  Corinth 
and  after  a  siege  evacuated  it  (May  30).  Other 
Confederate  operations  in  the  West  include  those 
of  General  Bragg,  who  took  A.  S.  Johnston's 
command,  and  with  35,000  men  proceeded  by  rail 
to  Mobile,  thence  northward,  where  he  seized 
Chattanooga,  and  with  Kirby  Smith  invaded 
Kentucky.  Here  Bragg  sought  to  head  off  Buell 
in  a  race  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  but  on  October  8th  he 
was  defeated  at  Perryville,  and  fell  back  on  Chat- 
tanooga. Hither  Buell,  for  some  reason,  did 


126  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

not  pursue  Bragg,  but  went  into  camp  at  Nash- 
ville, on  the  CumberlaDd  River.  Emboldened  by 
Buell's  failure  to  follow  him,  Bragg  now  set  out 
for  Nashville,  advancing  northward  as  far  as 
Murfreesboro,  where  he  encountered  the  Federal 
forces  under  Rosecrans  on  their  way  south  to 
Chattanooga.  Here,  at  Stone  River,  on  the  last 
day  of  the  year,  1862,  a  serious  battle  was  fought, 
as  bloody  in  its  issue  as  were  those  of  Shiloh  and 
Antietam.  The  engagement  opened  badly  for  the 
Northerners,  two  of  whose  divisions  were  routed 
on  the  right,  by  Rosecrans's  tactical  neglect 
in  placing  them  in  a  weak  position,  which  threw 
the  Union  army  on  the  defensive.  It,  however, 
was  saved  by  the  brilliant  charges  of  Sheridan 
and  Thomas,  and  the  battle  ended  in  "  a  draw," 
after  23,000  men  on  either  side  had  been  put 
hors  de  combat.  Two  days'  later,  when  Rose- 
crans advanced  upon  "the  Rebs,"  Bragg,  after  a 
brief  resistance,  retired  once  more  upon  Chat- 
tanooga. Meanwhile,  the  Southern  commanders 
Price  and  Yan  Dorn,  who  had  been  operating 
in  the  region,  in  the  hope  of  driving  Grant  down 
the  Tennessee  River,  sought  to  execute  their 
assigned  parts  of  the  Confederate  campaign,  gave 
battle  to  the  Union  armies  at  luka  (Sept.  19),  and 
at  Corinth  (Oct.  3  and  4).  In  both  battles,  the 


THE  FBEDERICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN.  127 

Southern  forces  were  repulsed  (at  Corinth,  dis- 
astrously so),  by  the  portion  of  Grant's  army 
under  Rosecrans,  though  the  fightings  prevented 
for  a  time  the  sending  of  reinforcements  to  Buell. 
The  latter,  soon  after  this,  was  relieved  of  his 
command,  and  was  replaced  by  General  Rose- 
crans. 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  the  region  of  the 
Rappahannock,  where  we  left  the  Union  and  the 
Confederate  armies  in  winter  quarters  during  a 
severe  and  inclement  season.  So  intensely  cold 
was  it  that  some  of  the  Federal  pickets  were 
frozen  to  death  at  their  posts ;  while  the  South- 
erners suffered  greatly  from  want  of  adequate 
provisions  and  the  warm  clothing  and  comfort- 
able footwear  which  the  Confederate  Commissary- 
and  Quartermaster-Generals  unfeelingly  failed  to 
provide.  The  morale  of  "  the  rebel "  army  was 
nevertheless  maintained,  thanks  to  General  Lee's 
constant  and  unwearied  efforts  in  its  behalf,  and 
his  ready,  considerate  sharing  in  the  privations 
of  his  men.  Meanwhile,  Burnside  was  restlessly 
anxious  to  do  something  to  advance  his  own  mod- 
est attainments  and  reputation  in  the  chief  North- 
ern command.  By  the  19th  of  January  (1863), 
he  had  planned  to  cross  the  Rappahannock,  in 
force,  at  Bank's  Ford,  some  six  miles  above  Fred- 


128  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ericksburg,  to  assail  the  Confederate  army  and 
drive  it  from  the  strong  position  it  held  near  by, 
and,  if  possible,  cut  off  Lee's  communications  with 
Richmond.  The  carrying  out  of  this  design  was 
entrusted  to  the  divisions  of  Hooker  and  Franklin, 
aided  by  Sigel's  corps,  which  was  left  to  guard 
the  Federal  camp  and  its  approaches,  while 
Couch's  corps  was  to  make  a  feint  in  another 
direction,  down  the  river,  all  being  protected  by 
strong  batteries  of  Northern  artillery.  The  whole 
movement,  however,  miscarried,  in  consequence 
of  a  series  of  violent  rainstorms  coming  on  just 
as  the  project  was  about  to  be  launched,  which 
made  havoc  of  the  roads,  besides  swelling  the 
river  to  unusual  proportions.  The  failure  of  the 
expedition  was  naturally  disconcerting  to  Burn- 
side,  who,  in  a  fit  of  rage  and  jealousy,  sought 
to  dismiss  a  number  of  his  generals,  but  this  was 
promptly  negatived  at  Washington,  when  Burn- 
side  had  no  alternative  left  him  but  to  resign, 
which  he  at  once  did,  and  was  replaced  in  the  chief 
command,  as  we  have  already  indicated,  by  Gen- 
eral Hooker. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN  AND  BATTLE. 

THE  remainder  of  the  winter  Lee  occupied  in 
preparing  for  the  Spring  campaign,  of  1863,  and 
in  further  efforts  to  protect  his  army  from  the 
early  anticipated  attack  of  the  enemy  under  its  new 
commander-in- chief.  He  still  had  to  importune 
the  Richmond  War  Office  not  only  for  more  reg- 
ular and  adequate  supplies  for  his  men,  but  also 
for  more  artillery  and  better  ammunition,  as  well 
as  for  additional  troops,  for  by  this  time  his  army 
had  been  weakened  by  the  withdrawal  of  Long- 
street's  division,  in  February  1863,  which  had 
been  sent  so  uth  of  the  James  River,  near  Suffolk, 
to  check  a  threatened  demonstration  of  the  enemy 
in  that  section,  as  well  as  to  collect  and  forward 
supplies.  Lee  had  also  recently  suffered  heavily  in 
the  loss  from  death  or  wounds  on  the  field  of 
many  of  his  capable  general  officers ;  while  in- 
creased vigilance  was  required  of  him  and  his 
staff,  now  that  greater  activity  in  the  enemy's 

ranks   began  to  show  itself  under  the  Hooker 

129 


130  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

regime.  He  was  furthermore  at  a  decided  dis- 
advantage in  having  now  opposed  to  him  a 
largely-strengthened  and  freshly-recruited  army, 
over  133,000  strong,  in  fine  fighting  condition, 
including  a  greatly  increased  cavalry  equipment 
(of  12,000  troopers),  and  400  pieces  of  artillery. 
This  large  force  gave  the  Union  command  a 
numerical  superiority  over  Lee's  entire  army  of 
almost  80,000  men.  Unfortunately  for  the 
North,  with  all  the  advantages  it  had  in  pos- 
sessing a  force  in  the  field  twice  the  size  of  Lee's, 
and  all  the  resources  of  a  mighty  nation  behind 
it,  Hooker's  army  was  to  suffer  at  Chancellors- 
ville  a  most  disastrous  and  humiliating  defeat  ; 
while  its  leader  was  to  prove  himself  as  great 
a  failure  as  any  of  his  many  predecessors. 

Hooker  was  early  informed  that  Longstreet's 
command  had  been  detached  from  Lee's  strength 
and  despatched  to  the  James  River,  and  this  fact 
made  the  Union  general  confident  of  success,  and 
even  boastful.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  affirm 
that  "certain  destruction"  awaited  Lee,  and 
that  "the  Rebel  army  is  now  the  legitimate 
property  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac ! "  The 
Southern  leader,  on  the  contrary,  was  more 
modest  and  tactful  (flippant  he  could  never  be), 
as  well  as  more  reverential,  but  hopeful  ;  while, 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         131 

as  usual,  he  took  pains  personally  to  see  over 
every  defensive  site  in  the  region,  and  omitted  no 
precaution  to  ensure  the  safety  and  wellbeing  of 
his  men,  and,  if  Heaven  willed  it,  the  triumph  of 
his  command.  His  intuition,  coupled  with  his 
experience  as  a  great  military  tactician,  more- 
over, enabled  Lee  at  once  to  divine  Hooker's  prob- 
able plan  of  attack,  despite  the  Northern  com- 
mander's successive  feints,  in  the  hope  of  mislead- 
ing him  or  throwing  him  off  the  true  scent.  Nor, 
aside  from  this,  was  he  lacking  in  the  precautions 
usually  taken  by  the  leader  of  an  army  when 
about  to  go  into  action,  in  availing  himself  of  all 
that  can  be  learned  from  watchful  outpost  com- 
manders, and,  by  utilizing  to  the  full  his  intelli- 
gent scouting  and  reconnaissance  force.  Hence, 
when  the  middle  of  March  came  (a  month  even 
before  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  occurred), 
Lee  was  able  to  make  such  disposition  of  his 
army  as  sound  generalship  suggested,  and  was 
also  in  a  position  to  direct  his  right  arm, 
General  Stuart,  the  Confederate  cavalry  watch- 
dog, to  look  to  the  crossings  of  the  Upper  Rap- 
pahannock,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  Fitzhugh 
Lee's  brigade,  checkmate  the  passage  of  a  Fed- 
eral column,  under  General  Averill  at  Kelly's 
Ford,  some  25  miles  above  Fredericksburg.  On 


132  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

this  occasion,  the  watchfulness  was  rewarded,  for 
though  Averill  forced  the  passage  of  the  river 
and  captured  the  picket-guard,  his  cavalry  contin- 
gent was  met  by  that  of  Fitzhugh  Lee,  and,  after 
a  hot  engagement  of  many  hours'  duration,  was 
driven  back,  having  suffered  a  serious  loss.  The 
encounter  at  Kelly's  Ford  is  spoken  of  as  "  the 
best  cavalry  fight  in  the  War,"  and  in  it  the 
first  blood  was  spilled  on  both  sides  in  the  Chan- 
cellorsville  campaign,  the  Southerners  losing  on 
their  side  the  gallant  young  Pelham,  Stuart's 
chief  of  horse  artillery,  who  was  known  as  the 
pride  of  Alabama  for  his  superb  courage  and 
dash. 

Over  a  month  later,  or,  more  precisely,  on  the 
closing  days  of  April  (1863),  when  the  Spring 
floods  had  somewhat  abated,  Hooker's  army  began 
to  cross  the  Rappahannock  in  force,  with  the 
intent  of  bagging,  as  it  thought,  the  entire 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  The  movement  was 
a  menacing  one  to  Lee,  for  its  design  was  not  only 
to  turn  the  Confederate  left  flank  and  get  in  its 
rear,  by  way  of  the  fords  on  the  Upper  Rappahan- 
nock, or  rather  the  Rapidan  River  ;  but  to  make 
a  strong  demonstration,  by  way  of  the  United 
States  Ford,  in  front  of  the  bend  in  the  Rappahan- 
nock, near  the  Mine  Run  Road,  thence  to  take  up 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         133 

a  position  around  Chancel lorsville  ;  while  Sedg- 
wick,  with  a  large  force,  was  to  cross  by  way  of 
Bank's  Ford,  or  lower  down  the  river,  and  con- 
centrate between  the  latter  and  the  plain  of 
Fredericksburg.  Besides  these  various  environing 
masses  of  Union  soldiery,  Hooker  had  ordered  his 
chief  cavalry  commander,  Stoneman,  to  make  a 
wide  detour,  as  Fitzhugh  Lee  relates,  "well 
around  the  Southern  left  and  rear,  throw  10,000 
sabres  between  Lee  and  Richmond,  breaking  up 
his  communications,  stopping  his  supplies,  and  be 
in  a  position  to  obstruct  the  Confederate  retreat 
until  Hooker  could  deliver  a  final  blow."  Though 
Hooker's  braggadocio  little  affected  Lee,  Stone- 
man, however,  succeeded  in  reaching  Culpeper, 
in  a  movement  against  G-ordonsville  ;  but  in  the 
region  he  had  the  ever-alert  Stuart  to  deal  with, 
in  spite  of  the  flanking  column  which  Hooker 
had  intervened  between  Lee  and  his  Confeder- 
ate cavalry.  Stuart  was,  nevertheless,  directed 
to  be  watchful  of  all  movements,  and  especially 
to  keep  an  eye  on,  and  seek  to  resist,  the  advance 
of  a  Federal  column  which  was  known  to  be 
crossing  the  Rapidan  at  the  Germanna  Ford. 
Stuart,  on  his  part,  while  maintaining  a  hot  skir- 
mishing fire  on  the  vanguard  of  the  Germanna  col- 
umn, ordered  W.  H.  P.  Lee  with  a  couple  of  regi- 


134:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ments  to  oppose  Stoneman's  operations  at  Gor- 
donsville,  and  himself  joined  Lee,  on  the  30th  of 
April,  after  cutting  his  way  through  the  Federal 
cavalry  and  riding  on  by  way  of  Ford's  Tavern 
Hooker's  army  had  meantime  massed  itself  at 
Chancellorsville,  50, 000  strong,  and  got  his  12,000 
horse  in  rear  of  Lee,  threatening  the  latter's  com- 
munications. On  Lee's  right,  Sedgwick's  com- 
mand of  40,000,  had,  moreover,  crossed  the  Rap- 
pahannock  below  Fredericksburg  and  menaced  the 
Confederate  right  wing.  Here,  however,  Early's 
division  of  Jackson's  command,  with  the  corps  of 
Anderson  and  McLaws,  looked  after  Sedgwick  ; 
while  they  also  prepared  to  co-operate  against 
Hooker,  who,  with  Sykes's,  Sickles',  and  Slocum's 
brigades  had  taken  up  a  fortified  position  extend- 
ing between  the  Plank  Road  and  the  Old  Turn- 
pike Road,  surrounded  by  a  dense  forest,  with  a 
tangled  mass  of  under-growth.  At  this  time, 
Hooker  had  quite  75,000  men  in  the  vicinity  of 
Chancellorsville  ;  but  both  Lee  and  Jackson  werei 
now  fast  concerting  a  movement  to  surprise  "the 
Feds,"  which  was  presently  executed  by  "Stone- 
wall," with  his  accustomed  vigor  and  daring.  This 
was  a  movement  across  Hooker's  front  to  get 
upon  his  right  flank,  and  there  fall  on  Howard's 
llth  Federal  corps  ;  while  Lee  was  to  mask  the 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         135 

operation  by  a  fierce  onslaught  on  Hooker's  center 
and  left.  Jacksoir  s  furtive  march  was,  however, 
discovered  by  the  Union  general,  Sickles,  as  it 
filed  past  the  Wellford  furnace,  but  before  it 
could  be  seen  what  design  "  Stonewall  "  had  in 
making  it.  The  cry  was  at  once  mistakenly  raised 
by  the  Federal  army,  that  Lee's  entire  command 
was  attempting  a  retreat  towards  Richmond. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  false  inference  and  the 
Federal  pursuit  of  Jackson,  Lee  directed  Ander- 
son's guns  to  face  about  and  open  fire  upon 
Sickles  and  prepared  an  onslaught  upon  Hooker's 
right ;  while  the  latter's  center  went  astray  in 
the  wilderness  in  its  effort  to  pursue  Jackson,  the 
purpose  of  whose  movement  the  Federal  army 
had  entirely  misconceived. 

The  day  before  Jackson  made  his  move  upon 
Hooker's  left  (May  2),  a  spirited  dash  was  made 
by  Hooker  to  secure  and  occupy  an  elevated  plat- 
eau, held  at  this  time  by  a  weak  corps  under 
the  Confederate  general,  Anderson,  which  com- 
manded the  Federal  position  at  Chancellorsville. 
This  ridge  Lee  was  most  anxious  to  retain,  but 
it  was  captured  by  a  portion  of  Hooker's  army. 
Just  as  it  was  taken  from  Anderson's  command, 
Jackson  arrived  with  portions  of  several  brigades, 
and,  seeing  the  Confederate  commander's  plight 


136  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

in  having  to  abandon  it,  he  daringly  pressed  for- 
ward and  retook  it ;  while  Hooker,  now  aware 
that  Lee's  army  was  not  in  retreat,  recalled  his 
force  and  fell  back  upon  his  main  position  around 
Chancellorsville,  where  he  rapidly  set  to  work  to 
fortify  himself.  Here,  on  his  right  and  left,  the 
Confederates  partly  enveloped  him  ;  while  Sedg- 
wick,  off  at  Fredericksburg,  had  Early's  divisions 
to  look  after  him,  in  front  of  the  city,  and  between 
it  and  the  bend  of  the  Kappahannock  at  Bank's 
Ford.  On  May  2nd,  Lee  now  began  to  maneuver 
with  a  varied  play  of  attack  upon  Hooker's  center, 
to  draw  his  attention  from  Jackson's  movement 
directed  against  the  Federal  left,  and  especially 
upon  Howard's  llth  corps,  which  formerly  had 
been  Sigel's.  It  was  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 
when  the  first  shots  were  fired  on  Hooker's  left 
flank,  and,  two  hours  later,  Jackson  had  succeeded 
in  driving  the  llth  corps  back  upon  the  12th, 
which  formed  the  center  of  Hooker's  position. 

The  incidents  of  this  achievement  of  Jackson 
are  of  so  thrilling  a  character,  and,  unhappily, 
so  calamitous  in  their  consequences  personally  to 
the  redoubtable  "Stonewall,"  as  well  as  to  the 
Southern  cause  in  general,  that  we  are  here 
tempted  to  give  a  fuller  record  of  them  from  a 
contemporary  narrative,  that  of  Mr,  James  D. 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         137 

McCabe,  jr.,  in  his  interesting  work  on  the  "Life 
and  Campaigns  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee." 
"  General  Jackson,"  writes  Mr.  McCabe,  "  led  his 
troops  in  person.  Those  who  saw  him  declare 
that  he  seemed  carried  away  by  the  excitement 
of  the  moment.  He  leaned  forward  on  his  horse, 
extending  his  arm  far  in  front,  as  though  he 
wished  to  push  the  men  forward,  and  his  voice 
was  heard  exclaiming :  '  Press  forward  !  press 
forward  ! '  every  few  minutes  during  the  entire 
attack.  When  not  thus  mastered  by  the  ardor  of 
battle,  his  right  hand  was  raised  aloft  with  that 
gesture  now  familiar  to  his  men,  as  though  he  were 
praying  to  the  God  of  battles  for  victory.  .  .  . 
"  By  eight  o'clock  the  advance  had  been  pressed 
to  within  half  a  mile  of  Hooker's  headquarters, 
when,  in  the  darkness,  the  Southern  line  became 
entangled  in  the  heavy  abatis  of  felled  trees 
with  which  Hooker  had  fringed  the  works  around 
Chancellorsville.  Rodes'  and  Colston's  men  be- 
came mingled  in  the  greatest  confusion,  so  that 
it  was  impossible  for  either  officer  to  distinguish 
his  command.  To  remedy  this  the  troops  were 
halted,  Rodes  was  directed  to  fall  back  and  reform 
his  men,  and  A.  P.  Hill's  division  was  placed  in 
front  in  the  room  of  the  troops  thus  withdrawn. 
As  the  line  halted,  the  Federal  batteries  opened 


138  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

from  the  cleared  ground  around  Chancelldrsville, 
which  about  this  time  presented  a  scene  of  the 
wildest  confusion. 

"  The  panic-stricken  soldiers  of  the  llth  corps 
rushed  back  upon  their  center  as  Jackson's  infantry 
swept  down  them.  As  the  terror  spread,  men, 
horses,  cannon,  wagons,  and  ambulances  became 
mingled  in  one  frightful  mass,  which  sped  across 
the  clearing  around  Chancellorsville  with  the 
force  of  a  whirlwind — all  aiming  straight  for  the 
Rappahannock.  Officers  tried  in  vain,  by  threats, 
entreaties  and  blows,  to  stay  the  fugitives- 
They  were  deaf  to  everything.  For  a  moment  it 
seemed  that  the  career  of  Hooker's  army  was 
ended,  but  just  at  this  time  the  Southern  advance 
was  checked  by  the  accident  I  have  mentioned. 
But  for  this,  Jackson  would  have  slept  that  night 
at  Chancellorsville,  and  his  valuable  life  would 
have  been  spared  to  the  country. 

"  Hooker  was  quick  to  take  advantage  of  the 
pause.  Opening  with  every  gun  he  could  collect 
at  the  moment,  twenty-two  in  all,  upon  the  woods 
held  by  the  Confederates,  he  endeavored  to  form 
his  troops  to  resist  the  attack.  Leading  his  old 
division  forward  in  person,  he  became  for  the 
moment  once  more  the  impetuous  soldier  that  had 
won  such  admiration  even  from  his  enemies.  He 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         139 

posted  this  division  at  the  edge  of  the  clearing, 
directly  in  Jackson's  front,  and  awaited  a  renewal 
of  the  attack.  Fresh  artillery  was  brought  up, 
and  fifty  pieces  were  soon  sweeping  the  woods 
with  an  iron  hail. 

"It  was  ten  o'clock,  and  the  moon  had  risen, 
lighting  up  the  woods  with  a  ghostly  glimmer 
which  paled  before  the  fierce  glare  of  the  can- 
nonade. Late  as  it  was,  Jackson  determined  to 
renew  the  attack  and  get  possession  of  the  road 
to  the  United  States  Ford.  As  his  troops  were 
forming  for  the  assault,  he  became  so  anxious  to 
ascertain  the  exact  state  of  affairs  in  his  front, 
that  he  rode  forward  to  reconnoiter,  giving  orders 
to  his  men  not  to  fire,  unless  cavalry  approached 
from  the  direction  of  the  enemy.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  two  of  his  staff,  about  half  a  dozen 
couriers,  and  two  men  of  the  signal  corps. 

"  Unfortunately,  although  the  enemy  were 
scarcely  more  than  two  hundred  yards  distant, 
no  pickets  had  been  established,  and  General 
Jackson  found  himself  considerably  beyond  his 
lines,  with  nothing  between  him  and  the  enemy. 
Had  this  important  duty  been  performed,  the 
sad  results  of  this  reconnaissance  would  have 
been  avoided. 

"  As  he  finished  his  inspection,  General  Jack- 


140  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

son  directed  one  of  his  staff  to  go  back  and  order 
General  A.  P.  Hill  to  advance.  As  he  rode  back 
to  his  lines,  without  giving  any  warning  to  his 
men,  who  had  been  ordered  to  look  out  for 
Federal  cavalry,  he  was  fired  upon  by  a  brigade 
of  his  own  troops,  and  severely  wounded,  twice 
in  the  left  arm,  and  once  in  the  right  hand.  His 
whole  escort,  with  the  exception  of  two  persons, 
were  killed,  wounded,  or  dismounted. 

"The  scene  which  ensued  was  agonizing  be- 
yond description.  General  Jackson  was  assisted 
from  his  horse  by  the  survivors  of  the  fatal 
volley,  almost  too  weak  from  loss  of  blood  to 
stand,  and  tenderly  laid  in  the  shelter  of  the  trees 
by  the  roadside.  A  messenger  was  dispatched 
for  a  surgeon  and  an  ambulance,  but  before  these 
arrived  General  Hill,  who  had  also  been  exposed 
to  the  fire,  came  up,  having  succeeded  in  check- 
ing it.  He  was  made  acquainted  with  the  cal- 
amity that  had  befallen  the  army,  and  instructed 
to  assume  the  command  of  the  corps.  In  a  few 
minutes  General  Hill  repaired  to  his  post,  and 
shortly  afterwards  it  was  reported  that  the  enemy 
were  advancing,  and  were  within  only  one  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  spot  where  the  wounded  Gen- 
eral lay.  An  effort  was  now  made  to  assist  him 
back  to  his  lines,  and,  supported  by  two  of  his 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN 

officers,  one  of  whom  had  just  come  up,  he 
walked  slowly  back,  under  a  fearful  fire  of  artil- 
lery, which  was  suddenly  opened  from  the  enemy's 
batteries.  On  the  way  he  passed  his  troops,  who 
were  in  motion  to  check  the  advance  of  the 
enemy,  and  every  effort  was  made  to  prevent 
the  men  from  learning  who  he  was.  His  escort 
of  officers,  however,  excited  the  curiosity  of  the 
troops,  who  repeatedly  asked  who  was  wounded. 
The  answer  was,  invariably,  a  Confederate  officer, 
but  one  of  his  old  veterans  recognized  him,  as  he 
walked  bareheaded  in  the  moonlight,  and,  with 
a  cry  of  anguish,  exclaimed  :  '  Great  God  ;  that  is 
General  Jackson  1 ' 

"  During  this  time  Jackson  had  not  been  able 
to  drag  himself  twenty  steps.  He  was  so  ex- 
hausted that  his  officers  procured  a  litter  for  him, 
but  had  not  gone  far  before  their  path  was  swept 
by  a  shower  of  grape  and  canister  from  the  Fed- 
eral batteries.  One  of  the  litter-bearers  was  shot 
through  both  arms,  and  the  litter  was  placed 
on  the  ground.  For  several  minutes  the  firing 
was  terrific,  forcing  the  entire  party  to  throw 
themselves  down  on  the  ground  for  safety.  As 
soon  as  the  fire  of  canister  veered  around,  another 
effort  was  made  to  convey  the  General  to  a  place 
of  safety,  and  at  last  he  was  placed  in  an  am- 


142  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

bulance  and  conveyed  to  Melzi  Chancellor's  house, 
where  he  received  surgical  attention. 

"  The  firing  to  which  General  Jackson  had  been 
exposed  did  great  execution  in  the  Southern  ranks, 
wounding,  among  others,  General  A.  P.  Hill,  who 
was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  command  of  the 
corps  to  General  Stuart,  who  was  called  away 
from  his  cavalry  for  this  purpose.  Nothing  fur- 
ther occurred  during  the  night,  which  was  passed 
by  both  armies  in  preparing  for  a  renewal  of  the 
battle  the  next  day." 

Lee  was  apprised  of  Jackson's  victory  and  of 
the  severe  wounds  he  had  received  at  the  same 
instant,  and  his  comment  on  both  was  to  the  effect 
that  "  any  victory  is  a  dear  one  that  deprives  us 
of  the  services  of  Jackson,  even  for  a  short  time." 
Writing  personally  to  his  able  and  loved  lieuten- 
ant, the  Southern  commander-in-chief  congratu- 
lates him  on  the  skill  and  energy  that  had  won 
another  triumph  for  the  army  and  their  common 
country.  On  the  occasion,  he  feelingly  adds  that, 
"  could  I  have  directed  events,  I  should  have 
chosen,  for  the  good  of  the  country,  to  have  been 
disabled  in  your  stead."  Jackson's  wounds,  un- 
happily as  it  turned  out,  were  so  grievous  that  his 
left  arm  had  to  be  amputated,  and  the  operation, 
though  borne  with  his  accustomed  hardihood, 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         143 

as  well  as  with  his  wonted  Christian  resignation, 
presently  proved  fatal,  his  noble  life  ending  a 
week  later,  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  May  the 
10th.  News  of  Jackson's  death  brought  woe  and 
lamentation  to  all  ranks  of  the  Confederate  army, 
but  no  one  felt  the  sorrowful  tidings  more  keenly 
than  did  his  closest  friend  and  affectionate  com- 
mander-in-chief,  K.  E.  Lee,  who  best  knew  not 
only  the  high  military  genius  of  his  comrade- 
in-arms,  but  his  great  moral  worth.  Sore,  indeed, 
was  the  blow  to  him,  for  he  knew  there  was  no 
one  that  could  replace  Jackson,  as,  alas  !  he  was 
soon  ruefully  to  find  on  the  next  great  battlefield 
of  the  war — that  of  Gettysburg. 

Aroused  to  more  than  his  usual  combativeness 
by  what  had  happened  to  Jackson,  Lee  was  early 
astir  on  the  morning  of  May  3rd,  with  the  pur- 
pose of  renewing  the  attack  on  Hooker's  lines 
around  Chancellorsville.  The  Federal  commander 
had  succeeded  during  the  night  in  restoring  his 
command  to  some  condition  of  order  and  fighting 
strength,  and  thus  was  able  to  resist  Lee's  furious 
attack  on  him  for  some  hours  ;  but  by  ten  o'clock 
the  Federals  once  more  became  restive  and  uneasy 
at  the  repeated  Confederate  onslaught,  and  part 
of  them  began  to  yield  and  finally  to  retreat  along 
the  road  leading  towards  the  Rappahannock  and 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  United  States  ford  across  it.  Meanwhile, 
conflict  broke  out  on  another  section  of  the  field, 
that  around  Early's  command  in  front  of  Fred- 
ericksburg,  which  was  hemming  in  Sedgwick's 
Federal  divisions  in  that  quarter.  Hooker,  in  his 
plight,  had  instructed  his  subordinate  to  attack 
and  press  Early  vigorously  and  then  come  to 
his  assistance  at  Chancellors ville.  This  Sedgwick 
was  able  to  do,  in  consequence  of  Early's  command 
having  been  weakened  on  the  previous  day  by  the 
withdrawal  from  him  of  McLaws'  and  Anderson's 
corps.  Early  was  attacked  in  force  on  Marye's 
Height,  and  compelled  to  fall  back,  and  Lee, 
hearing  of  this,  ordered  Wilcox,  who  was  at 
Bank's  Ford,  watching  the  crossings  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock,  to  intercept  and  retard  Sedgwick's  ad- 
vance until  he  could  send  McLaws  and  Anderson 
to  his  assistance.  This  was  done,  and  the  Federal 
advance  upon  Chancellorsville  was  stayed  and  in 
time  repulsed.  On  the  following  day  (May  4),  the 
battle  was  renewed  and  hotly  fought  all  day, 
finally  going  against  Sedgwick,  who  saved  him- 
self and  his  command  by  flight  across  the  Rappa- 
hannock  over  night.  On  the  5th,  the  coup  de 
grace  was  now  about  to  be  given  to  the  force  it 
was  believed  Hooker  still  had  behind  his  defenses 
at  Chancellorsville ;  but  when  Lee  moved  to 


THE  CHANCELLORSVILLE  CAMPAIGN.         145 

attack  him  it  was  discovered  that  the  enemy  had 
fled,  under  cover  of  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  cross- 
ing the  Rappahannock  at  the  United  States  Ford, 
and  thus  leaving  the  hard-won  field  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Confederates.  The  Federal  casualties 
at  Chancellorsville,  in  killed,  wounded,  and  cap- 
tured, amounted  to  17,197  ;  while  the  entire  Con- 
federate loss  was  some  four  thousand  less.  The 
latter's  loss,  however,  consisted  of  the  flower  of 
Lee's  fast-depleting  army,  including  General  Pax- 
ton,  of  the  "Stonewall"  brigade,  and  its  great 
chieftain,  the  valiant  Christian  soldier.  General 
T.  J.  Jackson.  The  enemy  had  left  on  the  field,  be- 
sides his  many  dead,  20,000  stand  of  arms,  30,000 
knapsacks,  together  with  over  a  dozen  heavy  guns, 
which  became  welcome  Southern  spoiL 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   SECOND    INVASION  OP  THE     NORTH,   AND    THE 
BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG  (JULY  1-3,  1863). 

To  the  South,  several  objects  were  to  be  gained 
by  the  crossing  of  the  Potomac  and  once  more 
assuming  the  offensive  by  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  Its  late  successes,  in  spite  of  shrunken 
ranks,  warranted  a  new  and  aggressive  move- 
ment, which  would  relieve  Northern  Virginia  of 
the  presence  of  the  enemy,  always  within  striking 
distance  of  Richmond  ;  while  it  would  enable  it 
to  ease  the  pressure  just  then  of  the  Northern 
forces  upon  Confederate  arms  in  the  West ;  and 
at  the  same  time  obtain  for  Lee's  army  the 
greatly  needed  supplies  for  his  men  and  horses, 
which  it  was  thought  could  be  gathered  plen- 
tifully by  a  spirited  and  menacing  raid  as  far 
North  as  Pennsylvania.  The  feeling  of  dejection 
at  the  North  at  the  seeming  impossibility  of  find- 
ing a  Union  general  capable  of  beating  Lee  on 
the  field  favored  the  projected  renewed  invasion, 

especially  as  Hooker's  army  was,  besides  being 

146 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  147 

worsted,  greatly  depleted  by  recent  casualties  and 
by  desertions  from  its  ranks  ;  while  Lee's,  on  the 
other  hand,  after  the  period  of  rest  it  had  had, 
was  in  fine  fettle  for  a  raid  across  the  Potomac, 
with  the  prospect  before  it  of  unlimited  loot  in  the 
North,  and  the  consciousness  of  striking  terror 
throughout  the  region  the  army  was  likely  to 
invade.  There  was,  of  course,  no  little  risk  in- 
volved in  Lee's  transferring  hostilities  to  North- 
ern regions  ;  and  there  was  at  first  some  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  Confederate 
Government  to  the  proposal,  as,  just  then,  the 
Kichrnond  authorities  wanted  part  of  Lee's  army 
to  aid  the  contest  going  on  in  Tennessee,  as  well 
as  to  afford  succor  to  Vicksburg,  at  the  period 
being  besieged  by  General  Grant.  Lee,  however, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  not  usually  deterred  by  risks 
to  be  run,  and,  as  a  matter  of  sound  tactics,  was 
given  to  the  striking  of  decisive  blows,  when  his 
judgment  suggested  them  ;  hence,  he  had  his 
way,  and  at  once  prepared  his  array  for  the  North- 
ern incursion.  Latent  in  his  mind,  probably  at 
this  time,  was  also  the  hope  that,  by  some  further 
and  signal  victory,  he  might  terminate  the 
struggle,  with  its  direful  tale  of  bloodshed,  and 
dictate  in  the  North  a  treaty  which  would  end  the 
war,  and  give  both  sections  of  the  country  peace, 


148  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

if  not  unity.  Some  such  idea  in  Lee's  mind  was 
at  this  period  not  improbable,  especially  as  he 
tnew  that  importunate  voices  were  now  being 
heard  in  the  North  calling  for  an  end  to  the  con- 
flict, on  the  basis  of  separation.  Lee  was,  more- 
over, confirmed  in  his  purpose  of  making  a  new 
foray  in  the  North  by  the  improved  strength  and 
enthusiasm  of  his  army,  which  was  now  aug- 
mented not  only  by  the  return  of  Longstreet's  com- 
mand from  Suffolk,  but  also  by  the  return  to  the 
ranks  of  the  recovered  wounded  who  had  been 
on  temporary  furlough,  with  other  absentees,  as 
well  as  by  some  fresh  levies  forwarded  from  the 
Confederate  capital. 

Lee's  present  army  was  now  about  68,000 
strong,  of  which  close  upon  10,000  consisted  of 
cavalry  and  artillery.  The  whole  force  he 
divided  anew  into  three  corps,  of  three  divisions 
each,  viz.,  those  under  Longstreet,  Ewell  (who 
succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  late  General 
Jackson's  corps),  and  A.  P.  Hill ;  while  the  caval- 
ry was  commanded,  as  before,  by  General  Stuart, 
and  the  artillery  (composed  of  200  guns)  by  Gen- 
eral Pendleton.  On  June  3rd,  a  month  after  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville,  the  Northern  movement 
began  by  the  despatch  of  General  Longstreet  to 
Culpeper,  followed  by  Ewell ;  while  Hill  was  for 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  14.9 

the  time  left  in  front  of  Fredericksburg  to  keep 
watch  on  Hooker;  and  prevent  any  advance  upon 
Richmond,  as  well  as  to  conceal  from  Hooker 
Lee's  departure.  At  Culpeper,  on  June  9th,  Lee 
reports  to  his  Government  at  Richmond  that  a 
portion  of  Hooker's  army,  including  a  large  force 
of  cavalry  and  artillery,  had  early  that  morning 
crossed  the  Rappahannock  on  a  reconnaissance  ex- 
pedition, after  previously  making  a  demonstration 
against  Hill  on  the  Rapidan.  The  object  of  the 
expedition,  which  crossed  the  river  at  Kelly's  and 
Beverley's  Fords,  east  of  the  Culpeper  Court 
House,  was  manifestly  to  get  on  General  Stuart's 
track,  and  if  possible  learn  of  the  designs  of  his 
column  in  the  region  and  of  his  later  advance  upon 
Brandy  Station.  At  this  time,  Lee's  advance 
northward  had  not  fully  transpired,  and  Stuart's 
object  in  being  where  he  was  was  to  mask  from 
Hooker  Lee's  movement  in  the  direction  of  Mary- 
land, and  at  the  same  time  to  guard  the  Southern 
army's  flank  in  its  march  northward. 

From  the  two  fords,  came  the  Federal  columns 
under  Buford  and  Gregg,  forcing  back  the  Con- 
federate pickets,  and  delivering  a  determined 
attack.  This  was  at  first  resisted  by  the  Southern 
brigade  under  General  Jones,  but  on  being  heavily 
pressed  Stuart  sent  back  W.  H.  F.  Lee,  Wade 


150  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

Hampton,  and  Robertson,  with  their  several 
brigades,  to  withstand  the  onslaught,  which  now 
developed  into  almost  the  proportions  of  a  bat- 
tle, and  lasted  throughout  the  day.  Finally, 
the  Northerners  were  repulsed  at  all  points  and 
compelled  to  recross  the  river,  leaving  in  the 
Confederate  hands,  besides  their  dead  on  the  field, 
about  500  prisoners,  with  three  pieces  of  artillery 
and  several  regimental  colors.  In  the  day's  en- 
counter near  Brandy  Station,  said  to  have  been 
one  of  the  stiffest  cavalry  contests  of  the  whole 
war,  Lee's  second  son,  Brigadier-General  W.  H. 
F.  Lee,  was  wounded.  Of  this  mishap  to  a 
member  of  his  family,  following  soon  after  the 
death  of  a  loved  daughter,  Anne,  General  Lee 
wrote  to  his  wife  two  days  afterwards  (June 
llth)  :  "My  supplications  continue  to  ascend  for 
you,  my  children,  and  my  country.  When  I  last 
wrote  I  did  not  suppose  that  Fitzhugh  (his  son) 
would  so  soon  be  sent  to  the  rear  disabled,  and  I 
hope  it  will  be  but  for  a  short  time.  I  saw  him 
the  night  after  the  battle — indeed,  met  him  on 
the  field  as  they  were  bringing  him  from  the 
front.  He  is  young  and  healthy,  and  I  trust  will 
soon  be  up  again.  He  seemed  to  be  more  con- 
cerned about  his  brave  men  and  officers  who  had 
fallen  in  the  battle  than  about  himself." 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  151 

On  the  following  day  (June  10th),  Lee  sent 
Ewell  northward  from  Culpeper  into  the  Shen- 
andoah  Valley,  with  the  design  of  reaching  Win- 
chester, then  held  by  6,000  Federal  troops  under 
General  Milroy,  with  a  small  force  occupying 
Martinsburg.  At  Winchester,  which  the  Federals 
had  strongly  fortified,  Ewell  directed  Rodes's  divi- 
sion to  move  upon  Martinsburg,  capture  the  Union 
garrison,  and  dispose  of  his  force  so  as  cut  off  the 
enemy's  retreat  in  falling  back  from  Winchester 
to  the  Potomac.  Ewell  then  prepared  to  assault 
Milroy,  having  invested  the  town  on  the  13th, 
and  having  with  him  the  divisions  of  Johnson 
and  Early.  The  next  day,  the  latter,  after  a 
furious  cannonade,  stormed  Milroy 's  defenses, 
carried  them,  and  made  prisoners  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  garrison.  The  remainder,  with  Milroy, 
fled  from  Winchester,  during  the  night,  but  the 
majority  of  the  Federal  command  fell  into  John- 
son's hands  and  were  captured,  though  Milroy, 
with  a  small  following,  eluding  the  Southern 
leader,  escaped  to  Harper's  Ferry.  Berryville  and 
Martinsburg  were  also  surprised  and  their  garri- 
son taken,  while  the  Valley  was  throughout  freed 
from  the  enemy.  The  spoils  of  the  two  days' 
hard-won  victories  included  4,000  prisoners  cap- 
tured, 29  pieces  of  artillery,  270  wagons  and 


152  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ambulances  taken,  and  a  mass  of  various  stores. 
News  of  the  mishap  reached  Hooker  speedily  at 
Fredericksburg  and  opened  his  eyes  as  to  the 
character  and  design  of  Lee's  operations  in  the 
North.  He  therefore  gave  his  army  orders  to 
quit  the  Rappahannock  and  move  in  the  direction 
of  Manassas,  meantime  confining  his  attention  to 
the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  and  the  Southern  move- 
ment in  that  quarter,  and  taking  care  to  keep  his 
army  between  the  line  of  the  Confederate  advance 
and  Washington.  When  Hooker  moved  north- 
ward, Hill,  in  compliance  with  Lee's  orders,  took 
the  road  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  thence  to 
Winchester  ;  while  Ewell  directed  the  steps  of  his 
command  towards  Pennsylvania,  Lee  following 
him  at  supporting  distance.  As  the  advance 
northward  was  made,  Lee  bore  eastward  in  the 
direction  of  Washington,  now  in  alarm  over  this 
new  Confederate  foray  ;  but  Hooker  by  this  time 
had  come  north  and  interposed  a  barrier  between 
the  capital  and  the  Confederate  columns,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Bull  Run  Range.  Lee  was  thus 
balked  in  making  any  demonstration  against  the 
Federal  seat  of  government,  though  his  presence 
in  the  region  brought  on  a  series  of  conflicts  be- 
tween Stuart's  command  and  the  Union  cavalry. 
Leaving  Stuart  to  guard  the  passes  of  the  Blue 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.       153 

Ridge,  Lee  pressed  on  with  Longstreet's  and 
Hill's  corps  to  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  already  occu- 
pied by  Ewell,  who  now  advanced  to  Carlisle  and 
York,  and  even  threatened  Harrisburg.  At  this 
juncture,  Hooker  now  sought  to  move  against 
Lee's  rear  with  Slocum's  command,  and  to  do  so 
effectively  he  asked  permission  from  Halleck  at 
Washington  to  take  the  garrison  of  Harper's 
Ferry  (10,000  strong)  to  assist  him  in  the  oper- 
ation. This  Halleck,  however,  refused  to  allow, 
and  Hooker  warmly  remonstrated  with  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief, telling  him  that,  if  he  was  not 
permitted  to  conduct  the  campaign  in  his  own 
way,  he  preferred  to  resign  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Thus  matters  were 
brought  to  a  deadlock,  the  way  out  of  which  was 
speedily  taken  by  relieving  Hooker  of  his  post 
and  replacing  him  by  Major-General  G.  G.  Meade, 
of  the  Federal  Fifth  corps,  who  now  took  the  chief 
command  (June  28,  1863). 

Meade,  though  not  an  officer  of  great  bril- 
liance, was  an  able  and  sagacious  commander, 
and  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  service.  Though 
called  upon  suddenly  to  assume  the  chief  Federal 
command,  and  knowing  little  of  Hooker's  plan 
of  campaign,  he  at  once  set  himself  to  rally  and 
concentrate  the  scattered  Union  forces  in  Mary- 


154:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

land  and  Pennsylvania,  with  the  design  of  giving 
Lee  battle  and  cutting  off  his  retreat  southward. 
Up  to  this  time,  Lee  had  accomplished  not  a  little 
in  gathering  supplies  in  the  enemy's  country, 
and  in  spreading  alarm  throughout  the  North 
by  his  invasion  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was,  how- 
ever, greatly  handicapped  by  a  lack  of  cavalry, 
especially  for  scouting  purposes,  and  in  enabling 
him  to  learn  of  the  whereabouts  and  projected 
movements  of  the  Federal  army.  He,  neverthe- 
less, was  aware  that  his  rear  communications 
were  in  serious  danger,  and  the  better  to  protect 
them  and  strengthen  himself  for  anticipated 
attack,  he  directed  Longstreet  and  Hill  to  move 
from  Chambersburg  to  Gettysburg,  while  he  re- 
called Ewell  from  York  and  Carlisle  to  the  same 
rallying  point. 

The  great  historic  battle  of  Gettysburg  was 
fought  through  its  three  entire  days'  course  (July 
1-3,  1863)  by  detached  masses  of  the  two  contend- 
ing armies,  as  they  successively  came  upon  the 
now  renowned  field,  on  which  was  at  length 
grouped  close  upon  150,000  men,  about  equally 
divided  between  the  Union  and  the  Confederate 
forces.  The  town  lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Cumber- 
land, in  one  of  the  southern  counties  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 36  miles  southwest  of  Harrisburg,  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  155 

State  capital.  Through  the  valley  run  roads  lead- 
ing to  the  different  towns  of  the  adjoining  coun- 
ties, most  of  them  centering  in  Gettysburg.  To 
the  west  of  the  town  is  situate  Seminary  Ridge, 
three  miles  in  length,  on  which  stands  a  theolog- 
ical school ;  while  southward  is  a  series  of  ridges 
and  hills,  intersected  by  ravines  and  gullies. 
"The  point  of  these  hills  farthest  west  is  a  lit- 
tle to  the  north  of  the  general  trend,  and,  with 
its  connecting  ridges,  forms  a  curve  or  outward 
bend.  Joining  this  curved  part  is  a  long  line  of 
hills,  which  end  in  two  prominences,  and  finally 
in  open  country.  The  extreme  western  point  of 
the  curve  is  known  as  Gulp's  Hill,  the  two  prom- 
inences as  Little  and  Big  Round  Top,  and  the 
long  connecting  ridge  as  Cemetery  Hill,  the  local 
burial-ground.  Between  Little  Round  Top  and 
Cemetery  Hill,  filling  a  gap  in  the  long  line,  is  a 
ridge,  which  stands  out  in  the  valley,  and  is 
known  as  Peach  Orchard.  Near  Big  Round  Top 
is  Devil's  Den,  a  small  knoll,  and  Rock  Creek. 
These  hills  and  ridges  are  wooded,  and  in  some 
portions  are  very  steep  and  rocky." 

The  closing  day  of  June  found  the  Confederate 
forces  pressing  through  Cashtown,  on  the  road 
from  Chambersburg  to  Gettysburg,  Hill  having 
sent  the  divisions  of  Heth  and  Fender  on  in 


156  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

advance  to  ascertain  Meade's  whereabouts.  Stuart 
at  this  time,  to  whom  the  reconnaissance  duty 
would  doubtless  have  been  assigned,  was  off  at 
Carlisle,  and,  besides  having  Kilpatrick's  squad- 
rons to  fight,  had  Meade's  army,  for  most  of  his 
return  march,  between  him  and  Lee:  Longstreet 
was  still  west  of  the  South  Mountain  at  Green- 
wood, with  Pickett  guarding  the  supply  trains 
at  Chambersburg.  Of  Swell's  corps,  Johnson's 
division  was  near  Longstreet ;  the  divisions  of 
Kodes  and  Early  were  in  the  vicinity  of  Heid- 
lersberg,  though  now  on  the  way  from  the  Sus- 
quehanna  to  Cashtown.  Early  in  the  morning 
of  the  1st  of  July,  Heth  and  Fender,  of  Hill's 
corps,  on  their  approach  to  Gettysburg,  found 
themselves  confronted  by  Buford's  command, 
with  a  strong  J^ederal  contingQnt»-at- Willoughby 
Run,  a  force  which  the  Confederates  drove  back, 
the  noise  of  the  firing  bringing  both  Hill  and 
Ewell  on  the  field,  when  battle  between  the 
two  armies  was  precipitated  near  McPherson's 
Ridge,  on  the  Cashtown  or  Chambersburg  road, 
just  west  of  Gettysburg.  To  Buford's  assistance, 
after  the  opening  cavalry  skirmish,  came  up  tho 
Federal  First  corps  under  Reynolds,  and  the 
Second  corps  under  Howard.  Reynolds  posted 
his  men  along  the  Seminary  Ridge,  from  which 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  157 

he  saw  the  hot  engagement  between  Heth  and 
Buford,  and  at  once  rushed  down  the  slope  with 
his  command  to  take  part  in  it.  In  the  action 
that  ensued,  and  which  for  a  time  bore  heavily 
against  the  Confederates,  Reynolds  was  himself 
unhappily  slain  ;  while  Fender,  now  taking  part 
in.  the  fray,  was  able  to  aid  Heth  in  holding 
the  First  corps  at  bay.  By  noon,  the  Federal 
Eleventh  corps  came  up,  under  Howard,  who 
took  command,  now  that  Reynolds  had  fallen ; 
while  Ewell  appeared  on  the  field  from  Heid- 
lersburg,  and  with  Rodes,  Early,  and  Hill,  they 
together  fell  upon  Howard's  front  and  flank,  and, 
by  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  they  forced  his 
shattered  brigades  through  Gettysburg  back  upon 
the  Union  batteries  on  Cemetery  Hill.  As  Hill 
bore  heavily  down  upon  the  retreating  Federals, 
several  thousands  of  them  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  other  masses  of  them  had  fallen  before  the 
attack  of  cold  steel.  Lee  at  this  juncture  came 
up,  and  on  looking  over  the  scene  he  at  once  sent 
an  order  to  Ewell  to  press  on  after  the  broken 
Federals  and  secure  the  hill,  if  possible.  The 
elevation  was  found,  however,  practically  unas- 
sailable, with  the  present  Confederate  force  at 
Ewell's  disposal,  and  the  Federal  guns  now  belch- 
iug  from  it.  Ewell,  therefore,  wisely  deferred 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  assault,  especially  as  new  arrivals  of  Federal 
troops  were  coming  into  Gettysburg,  including 
Hancock's  and  Slocum's  corps,  which  at  once  oc- 
cupied Gulp's  Hill,  as  well  as  part  of  the  Ceme- 
tery Ridge.  The  day's  fighting  ended  amid  Con- 
federate exultation,  and  with  a  conference  of  Lee 
and  his  generals  as  to  the  plan  of  attack  on  the 
morrow.  The  losses  of  the  day  on  both  sides 
were  heavy. 

The  early  part  of  the  second  day's  fighting  at 
Gettysburg  was  occupied  in  placing  in  advantage- 
ous positions  the  contingents  of  both  armies  that 
had  arrived  during  the  night,  with  a  redisposi- 
tion  of  part  of  those  that  had  been  engaged  on  the 
previous  day.  Of  the  arrivals  on  the  Union  side 
were  the  Second,  Third,  Fifth,  and  Twelfth  corps, 
commanded  respectively  by  Hancock,  Sickles, 
Sykes,  and  Slocum ;  while  later  on  in  the  day 
came  the  Sixth  corps,  under  Sedgwick.  On  the 
Confederate  side,  Stuart's  cavalry  corps  had  not 
yet  arrived,  nor  did  he  reach  the  field  until  the 
afternoon  of  the  following  day.  Longstreet,  how- 
ever, had  early  joined  Lee,  though  portions  of  his 
command,  those  under  Hood,  Kershaw,  and  Mo 
Laws,  had  not  as  yet  come  up.  Lee  was  anxious 
for  their  arrival,  and  for  the  coming  of  Anderson's 
division  of  Hill's  corps,  as  he  wished  Longstreet  to 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.       159 

open  the  day's  operations  with  an  attack  on  the 
Federal  lines  along  the  Emmittsburg  road.  To 
this  design  of  the  Confederate  commander-in- 
chief,  Longstreet  entered  a  protest,  as  the  latter 
preferred  to  attack  Meade  first  on  the  left.  This 
lack  of  acquiescence  lost  Lee  most  part  of  the  day, 
when  it  was  important  to  attack  the  enemy  before 
they  had  taken  up  their  assigned  positions  and 
strengthened  their  lines  of  defense.  Longstreet's 
attitude  was  naturally  embarrassing  to  Lee,  and 
the  latter  doubtless  wished  that  morning  to  have 
had  on  the  field  his  old  war-horse,  the  redoubtable 
and  eager  Jackson,  who,  with  his  unshaken  con- 
fidence in  his  chief  and  promptitude  in  obeying 
orders,  would  have  readily  thrown  his  command 
against  the  enemy,  and  more  than  probably  have 
disastrously  routed  them,  and  so  obviated  the  third 
day's  fighting.  As  it  turned  out,  the  Confederate 
chances  of  success  in  the  day's  operations  were 
lost  by  Longstreet's  reluctance  to  attack  as  Lee 
had  directed  ;  and  ere  long  the  result  proved  that 
Lee  was  right,  for  the  Federal  column  (the  Fifth 
Corps),  on  arriving  and  taking  up  ground,  at  once 
seized  Little  Round  Top,  the  key  of  the  day's 
position,  and  occupied  it,  reinforced  later  in  the 
day,  as  the  struggle  around  it  and  for  its  posses- 
sion developed. 


160  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

The  conflict  of  opinion  between  the  Confederate 
commander-in-chief  and  his  senior  general  on  the 
field  produced  for  a  time  an  unfortunate  deadlock. 
It  also  delayed  other  action  designed  to  have 
been  simultaneously  taken  along  other  parts  of 
the  field,  in  conjunction  with  Longstreet's  move- 
ment. Already,  the  divisions  of  McLaws  and 
Hood  were  waiting  to  carry  out  the  orders  as- 
signed them  ;  Hill,  opposite  the  enemy's  center, 
was  impatient  to  attack  ;  Ewell  was  eager  to 
storm  Gulp's  Hill ;  while  Early,  on  the  Confeder- 
ate left,  had  since  two  in  the  morning  been  ready 
for  the  word  to  scale  Cemetery  Hill  from  the 
direction  of  Gettysburg.  Finally,  by  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  Longstreet,  with  his  12, 000  men, 
got  into  position  in  front  of  and  on  the  left  of 
Sickles'  command,  the  Federals  being  here  ar- 
rayed in  strong  force  behind  stone  walls  and 
partly  in  the  forest  and  among  heavy  boulders, 
the  position  bristling  with  artillery.  Here,  Long- 
street  delivered  a  vigorous  attack,  "  forcing  the 
salient  at  the  peach  orchard,  and  driving  in  the 
successive  regiments  and  brigades  from  the  left 
toward  the  right  of  the  Third  corps,  pushing 
them  back  across  the  wheat-field,  gaining  the 
Devil's  Den,  and  threatening  to  take  Little  Eound 
Top."  That  the  latter  was  not  captured  was  ow- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  161 

ing  to  the  determined  efforts  of  General  Warren, 
'of  the  Federal  Engineer  corps,  who,  seeing  the 
importance  of  holding  the  eminence  against 
Longstreet  and  Hood,  brought  up  in  the  nick  of 
time  a  battery  of  artillery  and  a  brigade  of  infan- 
try, and  repulsed  the  Confederate  attack,  though 
a  hand-to-hand  fight  almost  placed  it  in  the 
latter's  possession.  Longstreet  now  turned  upon 
Sickles'  center  and  drove  his  command  from  the 
peach  orchard,  and  with  Hood's  assistance  pressed 
the  Federals  back  upon  their  main  position  on 
Cemetery  Ridge.  Meanwhile,  Hill  attacked 
Sickles'  right  with  Anderson's  division,  and 
pressed  its  corps-commander,  Humphreys,  from 
the  field,  Sickles  himself  falling  in  the  fight. 
Later  on  in  the  evening,  an  attack  was  made  on 
Cemetery  Ridge,  then  stoutly  held  by  Hancock, 
but  this  was  repulsed  after  hard  fighting. 
Simultaneously,  Early,  Ewell,  and  Johnson  made 
determined  attacks  on  the  enemy's  right  center, 
on  Cemetery  Ridge  and  Gulp's  Hill,  assaults  which 
were  only  partially  successful,  Ewell  capturing 
part  of  the  Federal  breastworks  on  the  extreme 
right,  though  in  doing  so  he  suffered  terribly 
from  the  fire  of  the  Federal  artillery.  The 
approach  of  night  brought  the  day's  dire  con- 
flict to  a  close,  though  its  gains  were  sufficiently 


162  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

encouraging  to  the  Confederates  to  lead  their 
heroic  chieftain  to  determine  to  renew  the  battle 
on  the  morrow.  The  losses  on  both  sides  had 
meanwhile  been  frightful. 

The  two  days'  battle,  though  it  had  been  an 
aggressive  and  partly  successful  one  to  the 
Confederates,  was  by  no  means  decisive.  To  both 
combatants,  it  had,  moreover,  been  a  sanguinary 
one,  as  the  field,  littered  with  dead,  in  all  direc- 
tions showed.  On  the  Federal  right,  part  of  the 
Union  lines  had  been  occupied  over  night  by 
Johnson,  of  E well's  command,  and  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  3rd  it  was  designed  by  Lee  to  make 
the  position  won  the  basis  of  the  new  day's 
attack.  In  this,  Lee  was,  however,  checkmated 
by  Meade,  for  by  daybreak  Johnson  was  heavily 
assaulted  by  the  foe,  and  the  position,  after  pro- 
tracted fighting,  was  retaken  before  Confederate 
reinforcements  could  be  brought  up  to  strengthen 
it.  The  Union  lines  were  then  re-formed.  After 
the  morning's  discomfiture,  Lee  at  once  resolved 
to  break  the  enemy's  center,  and  with  that  object 
he  first  ordered  his  artillery,  consisting  of  140  guns 
on  Seminary  Ridge,  to  open  fire  on  the  Federal 
lines.  This  furious  cannonade,  which  lasted  for 
close  upon  two  hours,  was  fitfully  replied  to  by 
Meade's  80  cannon  posted  on  Cemetery  Hill,  for 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.       163 

his  artillery  was  short  of  ammunition.  After 
this  cannoneers'  combat — "the  most  terrible 
artillery-fire  of  the  whole  war  " — there  followed 
the  gallant  historic  charge,  which  became  the 
culminating  feature  of  the  three  days'  battle,  that 
of  the  Virginian  division,  led  by  Major-General 
Pickett,  13,000  strong,  supported  by  Heth's  divis- 
ion of  Hill's  corps,  under  General  Pettigrew, 
and  protected  on  its  exposed  right  flank  by  a 
brigade  commanded  by  General  Wilcox.  The 
charge  was  made  in  three  lines  across  the  slopes 
of  the  valley  intervening  between  the  positions 
occupied  by  the  opposing  armies,  its  steady,  mag- 
nificent advance,  in  the  face  of  a  murderous 
artillery  and  infantry  cross-fire,  being  the  admira- 
tion of  friend  and  foe  alike. 

For  a  time,  Pickett's  gallant  line  was  shielded 
by  the  fire  of  the  Confederate  artillery  ;  but  as  it 
advanced  towards  the  salient  position  occupied  by 
Hancock,  which  Lee  had  given  Pickett  as  the 
objective  point,  the  protecting  fire  was  silenced, 
so  as  not  to  harm  the  advancing  lines.  Now  they 
were  thrown  by  Pickett  into  echelon  order  and 
pushed  on  rapidly  by  their  ardent  leader,  when 
the  ranks  were  once  more  thinned  by  the  mus- 
ketry fire  of  the  foe,  which  was  now  directed  upon 
them.  In  spite  of  this,  the  Virginians  continued 


LIFE  OP  GENERAL  LEE. 

to  advance  against  their  assailants,  and  the 
struggle  henceforth  was  one  waged  at  close 
quarters,  until  the  Confederates  pierced  the  first 
Federal  line  and  threw  it  back  upon  the  second. 
Pickett's  brigades  now  found  themselves  far  in 
advance  of  their  supports,  and  were  met  besides  by 
a  hail  of  grape-shot  at  close  range,  which  leveled 
hundreds  with  the  dust.  The  command  still  did 
not  flinch,  however,  though  hotly  opposed  by 
Gibbon's  Federal  defenders.  Upon  the  Union  lines 
the  advance  almost  recklessly  threw  itself,  only  to 
be  mowed  down  by  the  Federal  fire,  though,  at 
this  crisis,  a  few  of  the  supporting  regiments  came 
up  and  united  with  Pickett's  men,  and  both  for  a 
time  made  a  determined  stand — only  to  be  anni- 
hilated. At  this  juncture,  the  charge,  it  was  seen, 
was  a  forlorn  hope,  and  what  remained  of  it  had 
no  alternative  but  to  face  about  and  retreat,  or 
submit  to  the  shrunk-f  rom  choice  of  capture.  Out 
of  4, 800  men  who  had  followed  Pickett  to  the 
point  of  contact  with  the  Federal  line,  but  1,200  es- 
caped ;  while  3,600  fell  before  the  murderous  fire 
to  which  they  had  been  exposed.  Such  was  the 
tragic  ending  of  a  glorious  and  memorable  deed 
of  arms,  and  practically  the  close  of  the  great 
battle  of  Gettysburg. 

Gettysburg,  it  has  often  been  said,  should  have 


THE  BATTLE  OP  GETTYSBURG.    ies 

ended  the  war,  together  with  the  surrender  of 
Vicksburg  to  Grant  on  July  4th,  the  morrow  of 
the  last  day's  fighting  between  Meade's  and  Lee's 
forces  on  the  bloody  field  of  Gettysburg.  But 
this  was  hardly  to  be  expected  when  we  consider 
the  keen-edged  temper  of  the  Southern  troops  and 
their  confidence  in  their  great  leader,  not  to  speak 
of  the  losses  that  had  been  inflicted,  in  the  three 
days'  engagement,  upon  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  in  view  of  what  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia was  yet  capable  of  accomplishing  in  the 
Campaign  of  the  Wilderness  that  ensued,  where 
man  for  man  the  Confederates  greatly  out-fought 
the  Northerners.  The  losses  on  both  sides  at 
Gettysburg  were  appalling,  and  what  the  battle 
had  cost  Meade — in  a  loss  of  23,000  out  of  nearly 
90,000  of  the  Northern  forces,  against  a  "  rebel  " 
loss  of  21,000  out  of  a  total  of  60,000  under  Lee- 
showed  the  punishment  that  had  been  received,  a 
punishment  that  restrained  the  northern  general- 
in-chief  from  immediately  renewing  the  fighting. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LEE  RETREATS  TO  VIRGINIA  AND  WINTERS  BEHIND 
THE  RAPIDAN. 

AFTER  Gettysburg,  a  period  of  inactivity  en- 
sued, so  far  as  actual  strife  between  the  forces  of 
Lee  and  Meade  is  concerned,  the  latter  hesitating 
to  renew  the  attack  upon  Lee's  command,  or  in 
any  effective  way  to  frustrate  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  to  the  Potomac. 
The  inactivity  is  partly  explained  by  the  wet 
season  that  had  come  on  and  made  the  roads 
through  the  South  Mountain  range  well-nigh 
impassable  ;  and  partly  owing  to  Meade's  caution 
in  not  desiring  to  come  so  soon  again  to  close 
quarters  with  the  Confederate  forces,  even  in  their 
retreat  to  Virginia.  The  lull  and  the  avoidance 
of  continued  fighting  enabled  the  Southern  com-  ' 
mander-in-chief  to  withdraw  his  army  through 
Cashton  and  by  the  Fairfield  road,  via  the  Cum- 
berland Valley,  to  the  crossings  of  the  Potomac. 
High  water  at  the  latter  river  delayed  his  crossing 

for  a  week,  and  made  Lee  anxious  for  the  safety 

166 


LEE  RETREATS  TO  VIRGINIA.  167 

of  his  command  as  well  as  for  its  maintenance,  as 
camp  supplies  were  again  getting  short  and  am- 
munition was  also  now  low  ;  while  it  was  known 
that  the  Federals,  who  had  moved  up  from  Fred- 
erick, Md.,  were  at  last  close  upon  them,  though 
still  halting  in  the  determination  to  deliver  an 
attack,  which  had  heen  ordered  by  the  "War 
authorities  at  Washington.  A  crossing  was  at 
length  made  by  the  13th  of  July  at  Williamsport, 
and  at  Falling  Waters,  the  ever-vigilant  Stuart, 
by  maneuvering  in  rear  of  the  retreat,  concealing 
from  Meade  the  withdrawal  of  the  Confederate 
forces  to  the  Virginia  side  of  the  river.  That  Lee 
had  expected  an  attack  by  Meade  at  the  Potomac, 
or  a  check  by  him  in  conveying  his  army  across 
the  river,  is  manifest  by  the  General  Order  issued 
by  him  to  his  soldiers  at  Hagerstown  (his  head- 
quarters before  crossing  the  Potomac)  on  the  llth 
of  July  (1863).  In  that  spirited  Address,  General 
Lee  says  :  "  After  the  long  and  trying  marches, 
endured  with  the  fortitude  that  has  ever  char- 
acterized the  soldiers  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  you  have  penetrated  to  the  country  of 
our  enemies,  and  recalled  to  the  defense  of  their 
own  soil  those  who  were  engaged  in  the  invasion 
of  ours.  You  have  fought  a  fierce  and  san- 
guinary battle,  which,  if  not  attenclecl  with  the 


168  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

success  that  has  hitherto  crowned  your  efforts, 
was  marked  by  the  same  heroic  spirit  that  has 
commanded  the  respect  of  your  enemies,  the 
gratitude  of  your  country,  and  the  admiration  of 
mankind. 

"  Once  more  you  are  called  upon  to  meet  the 
enemy,  from  whom  you  have  won  on  so  many 
fields  a  name  that  will  never  die.  Once  more 
the  eyes  of  your  countrymen  are  turned  upon 
you,  and  again  do  wives  and  sisters,  fathers  and 
mothers,  and  helpless  children  lean  for  defense  on 
your  strong  arms  and  brave  hearts.  Let  every 
soldier  remember  that  on  his  courage  and  fidelity 
depends  all  that  makes  life  worth  having,  the 
freedom  of  his  country,  the  honor  of  his  people, 
and  the  security  of  his  home.  Let  each  heart 
grow  strong  in  the  remembrance  of  our  glorious 
past,  and  in  the  thought  of  the  inestimable  bless- 
ings for  which  we  contend  ;  and,  invoking  the 
assistance  of  that  Heavenly  Power  which  has 
so  signally  blessed  our  former  efforts,  let  us  go 
forth  in  confidence  to  secure  the  peace  and  safety 
of  our  country.  Soldiers,  your  old  enemy  is 
before  you.  Win  from  him  honor  worthy  of 
your  right  cause,  and  worthy  of  your  comrades, 
dead  on  so  many  illustrious  fields. 

R.  E.  LEE,  General  Commanding." 


LEE  RETREATS  TO  VIRGINIA.  169 

The  anticipated  Federal  attack  was  not.  how- 
ever, realized,  though  Meade  made  a  show  of 
following  Lee  by  crossing  the  Potomac  and  ad- 
vancing east  of  the  Blue  Kidge  Mountains,  with 
the  design  of  pursuing  the  Confederates,  who 
by  this  time,  had  reached  Culpeper,  and  from 
there  had  taken  up  a  strong  defensive  position  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  Rapidan  River,  Lee  having 
his  headquarters  at  Orange  Court  House.  Meade, 
meanwhile,  brought  up  his  command  to  Culpeper 
Court  House,  where  he  established  himself  for 
the  winter,  having  the  Rapidan  between  him  and 
Lee.  From  these  several  positions  tentative 
movements  were  made  by  both  sides  during  the 
early  winter  months,  but,  if  we  except  a  demon- 
stration in  the  region  of  the  Mine  Run,  nothing 
of  importance  came  of  them.  Here  both  oppos- 
ing armies  were  considerably  depleted,  by  having 
to  send  parts  of  their  respective  forces  to  other 
and  distant  sections  of  the  country,  where  serious 
conflicts  were  then  occurring.  Meade's  strength 
was  reduced  by  the  despatch  from  it  of  a  large 
portion  of  his  army  to  South  Carolina,  to  take 
part  in  the  long  siege  of  Charleston,  stubbornly 
held  by  the  Confederates ;  while  another  con- 
tingent was  sent  to  New  York  city  to  assist  in 
suppressing  the  Draft  riots,  there  being  at  the 


170  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

time  much  difficulty  in  recruiting  in  the  North. 
Lee's  force  was  about  the  same  period  reduced 
by  Pickett's  brigade  being  despatched  to  Peters- 
burg, where,  in  the  following  summer,  "the  last 
citadel  of  the  Confederacy,"  under  Beauregard, 
gallantly  withstood  the  assaults  of  General  Grant 
and  a  long  further  siege  until  April,  1865,  when 
its  stout  defenders  were  withdrawn,  just  before 
the  surrender  at  Appomattox.  Lee's  army  was 
further  depleted  by  the  despatch  of  General  Long- 
street  with  two  divisions  to  General  Bragg's  as- 
sistance in  holding  Tennessee  against  Rosecrans. 
There  he  took  active  and  memorable  part  in  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga  (September  19-20,  1863), 
in  which  the  Federals  were  routed  and  driven  from 
the  field,  and  Kosecrans'  army  was  saved  from 
annihilation  only  by  the  strenuous  efforts  and 
gallantry  of  General  Thomas.  Of  Longstreet's 
part  in  the  direful  battle,  which  proved  so  dis- 
astrous to  the  Federals,  Lee,  on  September  25, 
wrote  thus  to  his  old  general,  Longstreet : 

"  My  whole  heart  and  soul  have  been  with  you 
and  your  brave  corps  in  your  late  battle  (of 
Chickamauga).  It  was  natural  to  hear  of  Long- 
street  and  Hill  (D.  H.)  charging  side  by  side,  and 
pleasing  to  find  the  armies  of  the  East  and  West 
vying  with  each  other  in  valor  and  devotion  to 


LEE  RETREATS  TO  VIRGINIA. 

their  country.  .  .  .  Finish  the  work  before  you, 
my  dear  General,  and  return  to  me.  I  want  you 
badly,  and  you  cannot  get  back  too  soon." 

Chickamauga  was  consecutively  followed  by 
the  battle  of  Chattanooga  (Nov.  25) ;  but  in  this 
famous  "battle  above  the  clouds,"  fought  on 
Lookout  Mountain  and  on  Missionary  Ridge, 
Bragg  was  badly  worsted,  in  spite  of  the  strong 
natural  positions  he  occupied.  This  was  in  the 
main  due  to  the  good  generalship  of  General 
Grant,  who  had  now  come  into  the  region,  and 
had  under  him,  as  able  lieutenants,  Generals 
Hooker,  Thomas,  and  Sherman  ;  while  Bragg  was 
at  a  disadvantage  in  not  having  Longstreet  with 
him,  the  latter  having  been  assigned  the  task  of 
besieging  Knoxville,  then  in  command  of  Burn- 
side.  The  Federal  victory  at  Chattanooga  was 
gained  at  a  loss  of  between  5,000  and  6,000  men  ; 
though  about  as  many  Confederates  were  captured 
on  the  field,  besides  40  pieces  of  artillery  and 
7,000  stand  of  Southern  small-arms. 

Matters  by  this  time  were  going  ill  for  the  South, 
especially  in  the  West.  After  the  rout  at  Chat- 
tanooga of  Bragg,  the  latter  was  removed  from 
his  command,  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  for  a 
while  put  in  his  place.  Meanwhile,  Lee,  with  his 
veterans,  was  putting  in  a  wretched  winter  OQ 


172  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  Rapidan,  his  army  being  badly  fed  and  as 
badly  clad,  many  of  them  being  without  shoes, 
and  without  suitable  accommodation  in  the  way  of 
shelter.  Much  of  his  cavalry,  moreover,  had  to 
be  dispersed,  in  search  of  forage  for  the  horses  ; 
while  the  General-in-chief s  wife  and  daughter, 
and  others  of  his  personal  family,  had  to  be 
depended  upon  for  socks  for  his  barefooted  men, 
and  for  blankets  to  cover  them  in  the  bitterly 
cold  nights  in  camp.  To  add  to  his  anxieties  at 
this  time,  General  Lee  had  to  give  paternal 
thought  to  his  second  son,  W.  H.  F.  Lee,  who  in 
the  summer  of  1863  had  been  wounded  in  battle 
at  Brandy  Station,  was  captured,  and  held  a  close 
prisoner  of  war  by  the  Federals.  While  captive 
in  the  North,  his  wife  and  child,  moreover,  died, 
thus  adding  to  General  Lee's  solicitude  and  grief. 
At  the  period  when  these  troubles  were  upon  him, 
the  Commander-in-chief  was  himself  untiring  in 
his  attentions  to  the  men  under  him,  caring  as 
far  as  he  could  for  their  material  wants  and  com- 
fort, his  own  table  being  often  as  indifferently 
supplied  as  were  those  of  the  lowest  rank  of  his 
command.  His  ordinary  dinner,  we  are  told,  was 
at  this  trying  time  nothing  more  bountiful  or 
appetizing  than  a  "head  of  cabbage  boiled  in  salt 
water,  with  a  pone  of  corn  bread — meat  being 


LEE  RETREATS  TO  VIRGINIA.  173 

eaten  not  oftener  than  twice  a  week.  His 
thoughtf  ulness  at  this  junctureled  him  to  permit 
many  of  his  men  to  go  home  on  furlough  for 
thirty  days,  to  such  at  least  as  were  able  to  supply 
temporarily  an  able-bodied  substitute-recruit,  of 
good  moral  character.  To  both  sides,  in  the  long- 
continued  strife,  recruiting  was  an  irksome  and 
difficult  business  ;  even  in  the  North  it  was  that, 
in  spite  of  the  inducements  of  large  bounties, 
which  it  could  well  afford.  To  the  South,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  had  become  almost  impossible  now 
to  strengthen  the  Confederate  armies  in  the  field, 
though  Lee  was  urgent  in  his  call  for  more  men, 
and  especially  for  additions  to  his  cavalry  equip- 
ment, in  view  of  the  opening  of  a  new  season  and 
the  operations  which  it  would  bring  with  it. 
With  the  Spring  of  186-i,  the  Federal  force  under 
Meadeand  Burnsideon  the  Rappahannock  reached 
a  strength  of  145,000  men  ;  while  it  had  now  for 
its  chief  command  and  leader  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  who  was  given  the  supreme  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-general of  the  United  States  army. 
Against  this  large  Union  force,  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  as  it  prepared  for  a  renewal  of 
hostilities,  was  under  62,000  men  of  all  ranks  ; 
what  it  lacked  in  numbers  it,  however,  made 
good,  under  the  inspiring  leadership  of  Lee,  in 


174  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

flan  and  morale.  Included  in  the  total  force  of 
the  Southern  troops  on  the  Rapidan  was  Long- 
street's  command,  now  returned  from  Tennessee, 
though  Pickett's  division  was  still  in  North 
Carolina. 


CHAPTER 

THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN. 

THE  region  of  the  conflict  between  North  and 
South,  in  the  Spring  of  1864,  which  has  passed 
into  history  as  that  of  the  Wilderness  Campaign, 
is  the  locality  in  Virginia  south  of  the  Rapidan, 
thickly  set  with  scrub  oak  and  dense  pine,  grow- 
ing on  a  soil  composed  of  sand  and  clay  unsuited  to 
agriculture,  interspersed  with  swamps  and  dense 
underbrush  unfavorable  to  military  operations. 
The  section  of  country  was  more  or  less  known  to 
the  Confederates,  as  here,  a  year  or  so  earlier, 
Lee  had  greatly  harassed  Hooker  and  subjected 
him  to  defeat.  Included  in  the  actions  in  the 
Wilderness  are  those  that  followed  the  battles  in 
the  desolate  region,  viz.,  those  around  Spottsyl- 
vania  and  on  the  banks  of  the  North  Anna,  with  the 
second  battle  of  Cold  Harbor — a  month  of  fighting 
that  brought  its  pitiful  tale  of  loss  to  both  combat- 
ants, but  especially  to  the  Federal  troops,  whose 
casualties  alone  amounted  to  over  50,000,  in 

killed,  wounded,  and  missing.     To  Grant,  with 

175 


176  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

his  known  resolute  character,  doggedness,  and 
military  capacity  of  holding  on  and  wearing 
down  his  opponent's  force  by  mere  attrition,  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  given  supreme  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  On  his  reaching  Meade 
and  reorganizing  the  latter's  army,  Grant's  design 
was  to  cross  the  Rapidan  and  move  upon  the 
Confederates  at  the  earliest  moment,  his  objective 
point  being  the  "rebel"  capital,  together  with 
the  destruction  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 
Besides  General  Meade,  and  General  Burnside, 
whose  separate  command,  which  had  just  been 
organized  at  Annapolis,  was  now  added  to  the 
strength  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  Grant  had 
at  his  disposal  the  services  of  other  general 
officers  of  tried  ability — Hancock,  Warren,  and 
Sedgwick,  with  Sheridan  in  command  of  the 
Federal  cavalry.  Other  contemporary  move- 
ments included  the  despatch  of  a  column  under 
Major-General  Ben.  Butler,  to  ascend  the  James 
River  and  cut  the  Confederate  communications 
with  Richmond,  and,  if  possible,  capture  Peters- 
burg. Other  simultaneous  movements  were 
those  under  Generals  Sigel  and  Crooks,  to  operate 
in  the  Kenawha  and  Shenandoah  valleys,  destroy 
the  Central  Railroad  and  the  Virginia  and  Ten- 
nessee R.  R.,  and  prevent  rebel  supplies  from 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  177 

reaching  Lee  and  his  army  from  the  region 
round  Southern  Virginia.  Unity  of  action,  in 
this  common  scheme  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
South,  included  the  despatch  of  General  W.  T. 
Sherman  (who  had  been  in  command  of  the 
Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi),  on  his 
renowned  March  through  Georgia,  where  he  had 
General  J.  E.  Johnston  and  J.  B.  Hood  success- 
ively to  contend  against,  and  where  he  won  the 
battles  of  Dalton,  Kesaca,  Kenesaw  Mountain, 
occupied  Atlanta,  and  then  set  out  on  his  famous 
"  march  to  the  sea." 

By  this  time  the  two  great  captains  of  the 
North  and  South  were  to  manifest  their  strategi- 
cal skill  and  test  the  mettle  of  their  respective 
commands  in  the  Wilderness  labyrinths.  The 
movement  began,  on  May  4th  (1864),  by  Grant 
throwing  his  right  wing  across  the  Rapidan, 
where  Lee's  army  was  on  the  alert  to  receive  him, 
and  where  its  chief  was  eager  to  draw  him  into 
the  heart  of  the  Wilderness,  and  there  seek  to 
bring  on  a  general  engagement.  In  this,  Lee 
succeeded  but  too  well,  as  Grant  was  soon  to  learn, 
when  he  found  himself  enmeshed  in  Nature's 
entanglements  in  the  region.  Moving  his  left 
wing  forward  on  the  road  towards  Chancellors- 
ville,  Grant  now  sought  to  flank  Lee,  and,  by 


178  T.TTE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

gaining  Gordonsville,  to  fall  upon  the  Southern 
rear.  For  the  incidents  of  the  fighting  that 
ensued  in  the  Wilderness  thickets,  we  cannot  do 
better,  for  the  reader's  information,  than  draw 
upon  the  intelligent  narrative  furnished  in  the 
Werner  Supplement  to  the  Encyclopaedia  Bri- 
tannica  "  (See  Vol.  V.,  pp.  551-2,  which  we  have 
the  Publisher's  kind  permission  to  quote).  There, 
the  writer  of  the  article  on  The  Wilderness  Cam- 
paign "  remarks  that : 

"  Lee  was  fully  aware  of  the  advantages  of  the  Wilderness 
for  defensive  operations,  and  resolved,  if  possible,  to  bring  on 
a  general  engagement  in  the  midst  of  the  thicket.  Two  lines 
of  advance  running  nearly  due  east  and  west,  and  parallel  to 
each  other,  were  open  to  Lee,  and  along  these  roads,  on  the 
morning  of  the  5th  (of  May) ,  he  promptly  advanced,  Ewell's 
division  taking  the  turnpike  (or  northerly)  road,  while  Hill's 
division  advanced  along  the  plank-road  (the  southerly  thor- 
oughfare). Longstreet's  division  was,  during  the  first  day's 
battle,  left  at  Gordonsville  to  cover  Lee's  rear,  and  did  not 
come  up  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  first  of  the  fighting. 
Burnside's  command  in  the  Northern  army  was  also  too  late 
in  arriving  to  take  part  in  the  first  day's  fighting,  he  having 
been  left  on  the  Rappahannook  to  cover  the  rear  of  the  Federal 
army.  When  the  Union  forces  first  struck  the  Confederates, 
they  supposed  it  to  be  merely  a  rear-guard  which  they  had 
encountered,  and  that  the  army  of  Lee  was  in  retreat.  But 
they  were  soon  convinced  that  they  had  made  a  mistake, 
and  in  a  few  moments  the  fighting  was  sharp  and  results 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  179 

bloody.  The  attack  was  begun  by  the  advance  of  Ayres's  and 
Bartlett's  brigades,  which  were  sent  to  the  right  and  left  of 
the  turnpike  road  to  disperse  whatever  force  might  be  found 
there.  The  Confederates  were  driven  back  ;  but  the  situation 
was  soon  changed  by  the  quick  advance  of  Stuart's  cavalry 
brigade  of  Confederates,  and  shortly  afterward  by  the  arrival 
of  Rhodes's  division,  and  their  attack  on  the  Federal  troops. 

"  The  effort  to  support  Ayres  and  Bartlett  proved  abortive, 
as  the  thickets  were  so  dense  that  before  aid  could  arrive 
they  had  been  driven  back  in  confusion.  On  the  whole,  the 
fighting  at  this  point  was  very  disastrous  for  the  Federals, 
McCandless's  brigade  alone  losing  two  full  regiments  in  its 
effort  to  escape  from  its  entangled  position  on  the  right  of 
the  Federal  advance  column.  So  far,  the  Union  army  had 
lost  three  thousand  men,  besides  several  guns,  while  the  Con- 
federates retained  possession  of  the  contested  ground.  A 
little  after  one  o'clock  the  Sixth  corps,  which  had  been  sent 
to  the  aid  of  the  Fifth,  was  struck  by  Ewell.  The  Confeder- 
ates were  at  first  repulsed,  but  a  terrific  charge  by  Rhodes's 
men  drove  the  Federals  back,  the  Confederates  being  after- 
ward, in  turn,  forced  back.  When  the  fight  for  the  day  was 
over,  the  Union  troops  were  in  possession  of  the  disputed 
ground.  Meantime,  General  Grant  had  the  conviction  car- 
ried home  to  him  that  General  Lee  meant  to  fight  him  in  this 
tangle  of  thickets,  and  he  now  began  to  make  his  preparations 
for  such  a  contingency.  He  ordered  Hancock  to  the  assist- 
ance of  Getty,  who  was  holding  the  junction  of  the  Brock 
road,  which  runs  at  right  angles  with  the  turnpike.  Soon 
after  Hancock  arrived  here  lie  was  ordered  to  attack  and 
drive  back  Hill,  but  this  he  failed  to  do,  the  men  fighting  at 
close  quarters,  and  at  night  each  army  drinking  from  the 
same  "  branch,"  or  brooklet,  so  close  were  their  positions  to 


180  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

each  other.    This  ended  the  first  day's  fighting  in  the  Wilder- 
ness. 

"Early  the  next  day  the  fighting  was  resumed,  Lee  com- 
mencing the  attack  at  about  4:30  a.m.  In  the  meantime, 
Burnside  and  Longstreet  had  come  up  to  their  respective 
armies,  and  the  lines  of  battle  of  both  were  now  fully  formed. 
Grant's  line  extended  over  a  frontage  of  five  and  a  half  miles — 
from  Todd's  tavern  to  Germania  Ford,  Sedgwick  occupying 
the  right,  to  the  left  of  Sedgwick,  in  regular  succession,  being 
Warren,  Burnside,  and  Hancock.  Lee's  army  was  disposed  as 
it  was  on  the  preceding  day,  with  the  exception  that  it  was 
now  in  three  sections,  Ewell  being  on  the  left,  Hill  in  the 
center,  and  Longstreet  on  the  right.  Lee  began  his  assault 
by  attacking  Sedgwick,  but  the  Confederates  were  easily  re- 
pulsed, and  Warren  and  Hancock  made  an  attack  on  Hill. 
For  a  time  the  troops  of  Hill  gave  way,  but  at  the  critical 
moment  Anderson's  brigade  of  Hill's  division  was  thrown 
forward,  and  Longstreet's  troops  suddenly  coming  to  the  sup- 
port of  Hill's  shattered  lines,  the  tide  of  battle  was  turned 
and  Hancock  was  driven  back.  At  the  most  critical  juncture 
in  the  fight,  General  Longstreet  was  seriously  wounded  by 
his  own  men,  and  the  loss  of  time  occasioned  by  the  change 
of  officers  necessary  after  this  occurrence  was  fatal  to  the 
Confederate  success.  Before  General  Lee  himself  could  reach 
the  scene  and  restore  order,  the  Federals  had  regained  all 
they  had  lost  by  the  attack  which  Longstreet  had  made.  At 
four  o'clock,  Lee,  in  person,  led  Hill's  and  Longsti-eet's  men 
to  an  assault  against  the  enemy,  and  for  a  time  the  Union 
left  was  in  extreme  danger.  But  a  prompt  and  desperate 
charge  made  by  Colonel  Hoffmann,  according  to  Hancock, 
was  the  turning-point  of  the  engagement,  and  saved  the  left 
wing  from  entire  destruction.  To  add  to  the  horror  of  the 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  181 

situation,  the  woods  were  afire  from  the  burning  powder  of 
the  guns,  and  many  dead  and  wounded  were  consumed  by 
the  flames.  Nightfall  did  not  cause  the  fighting  to  cease,  for 
just  at  sunset  General  Lee  sent  forward  a  heavy  column,  led 
by  General  Gordon,  against  the  right  wing  of  the  Federal 
army,  and  threw  it  into  the  greatest  confusion.  Federal  re- 
inforcements were  hurried  up,  however,  and  the  total  dark- 
ness of  the  night  put  an  end  to  the  fighting  of  the  second  day, 
in  which,  it  was  estimated,  the  Federals  had  lost  at  least  fif- 
teen thousand  men,  and  the  Confederates  about  ten  thousand. 
The  total  losses  for  the  two  days  were  about  twenty  thousand 
and  thirteen  thousand,  respectively. 

"  On  the  morning  of  May  7th  it  was  apparent  that  General 
Lee  had  determined  to  assume  the  defensive  and  let  Grant 
attack  him.  This  Grant  at  once  began  by  attempting  a  flank 
movement,  his  objective  point  being  Spottsylvania  Court 
House,  13  miles  away.  The  column  of  the  Federal  advance 
along  the  Brock  road  was  led  by  Warren's  division,  and  after 
considerable  delay,  occasioned  by  its  own  cavalry,  which  ob- 
structed the  road,  the  Federal  advance  reached  a  point  two 
or  three  miles  from  the  Court  House.  No  serious  fighting  had 
taken  place,  and  the  Federal  commanders  were  elated  with 
the  idea  that  Lee  had  probably  been  unaware  of  the  attempt 
made  to  turn  his  flank  ;  but  they  were  again  to  be  undeceived 
in  a  terrible  manner.  No  sooner  had  the  head  of  the  Federal 
column  arrived  at  the  point  indicated  above  than  they  were 
met  by  a  terrific  fire  and  forced  back,  each  successive  com- 
mand, as  it  came  up,  sharing  the  same  fate.  The  attempt  to 
turn  Lee's  flank  had  failed,  and  Grant  ordered  his  army  to 
strengthen  its  position  by  entrenchments.  All  of  this  and 
the  following  day  was  spent  in  maneuvers,  on  both  sides,  for 
positions,  Lee  always  barring  any  southward  movement  oa 


182  L^E  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  part  of  Grant  by  throwing  his  men  across  the  line  of 
march.  At  last,  on  the  10th,  Grant  attacked,  and  the  battle 
of  Spottsylvania  Court  House  took  place,  after  which  Grant 
and  Lee  began  their  famous  movement  to  reach  Richmond, 
the  one  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Confederate  capital,  the 
other  to  defend  it.  Lee  was  successful,  and  when  Grant 
arrived  at  Hanover  Junction,  on  May  23d,  he  found  Lee's  army 
between  him  and  Richmond,  in  a  strong  position,  already  en- 
trenched. The  position  of  Lee's  army  was  impregnable. 
Grant  knew  it  would  be  madness  to  attempt  to  turn  his  posi- 
tion, so  after  a  little  desultory  skirmishing  the  same  tactics 
as  before  were  resorted  to,  Grant  withdrawing  his  forces  on 
the  26th  and  again  attempting  to  flank  Lee.  Lee  followed 
Grant's  movements  closely,  at  every  turn  interposing  his  army 
between  the  Federals  and  the  Confederate  capital.  Several 
stands  were  made  by  both  armies,  but  on  no  occasion  was  a 
pitched  battle  fought,  until  the  old  battlefields  of  McClellan'a 
campaign  of  two  years  before  were  reached.  Here  the  Wil- 
derness Campaign  proper  ends,  as  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor 
has  been  placed  by  war-historians  in  another  category.  Soon 
after  this  battle,  the  Federal  army,  having  described  a  semi- 
circular path  around  the  city  of  Richmond,  was  transferred 
to  the  south  bank  of  the  James  River,  and  the  siege  of  Peters- 
burg, the  final  act  of  the  great  drama,  was  begun. 

"  No  characteristics  of  the  Wilderness  stand  out  with  greater 
prominence  than  do  the  heroism  and  determination  exhibited 
by  both  armies.  Never  before  had  Lee's  ability  as  a  tactician 
and  strategist  had  greater  demands  made  upon  it,  and  never 
before  had  those  demands  met  with  a  fuller  response.  An 
impartial  judge  would  find  it  hard  to  award  the  palm  for 
superiority  to  either  army.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Federal 
army  was  at  a  disadvantage  on  account  of  the  intricate  nature 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  183 

of  the  country,  and  on  the  other,  the  Confederate  forces  were 
largely  outnumbered.  But,  despite  all  advantages  or  disad- 
vantages, no  men  in  any  circumstances  could  have  done  better 
than  did  both  armies,  and  the  claims  of  both  Lee  and  Grant 
to  greatness,  even  had  they  no  other  foundation,  would  find 
a  solid  basis  in  the  conduct,  by  each,  of  this  one  campaign. 
On  the  battlefields  several  soldiers'  cemeteries  have  been 
established,  but  thousands  were  unburied,  and  lay  undis- 
turbed amidst  the  thicket  that  once  gave  back  the  din  of 
conflict  and  flamed  in  lurid  brightness  with  the  fire  of  battle." 

After  the  battles  in  the  Wilderness,  Grant,  sick 
of  fighting  in  the  tangled  forest  and  of  the  de- 
fensive contest  he  was  obliged  there  to  maintain, 
ordered  Meade  to  despatch  Warren,  by  a  night- 
march,  towards  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  with 
the  view  of  cutting  off  Lee  from  his  communica- 
tions with  the  Confederate  capital,  and  with  some 
idea  of  forming  a  junction  with  Butler  on  the 
James  River.  Ever  watchful  of  his  adversary, 
the  Southern  leader  cleverly  anticipated  the  new 
Federal  movement,  and  ordered  the  corps  of  Ewell 
and  Anderson  to  proceed  thither  (to  the  Court 
House)  by  the  shortest  route.  In  this,  the  Con- 
federates won  the  race  for  position  on  the  Spott- 
sylvania Ridge,  heading  off  Warren's  command 
by  a  more  rapid  night-march  and  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  the  country.  At  sunrise,  on  the  morning 
of  May  8th,  Anderson  managed  to  throw  up  hasty 


184:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

entrenchments  on  the  Ridge  and  formed  a  line  of 
battle  ready  to  be  hurled  upon  Warren  and  the 
advance  corps  of  Grant's  army,  at  this  time 
ignorant  of  their  being  forestalled  by  the  Con- 
federates, save,  as  it  was  thought,  by  some  dis- 
mounted men  of  Fitzhugh  Lee's  cavalry.  Gen- 
eral Warren,  on  arriving  at  the  Ridge  and  pushing 
on  his  advance  to  secure  the  position,  was  met 
with  an  unexpected  and  withering  Confederate 
fire,  which  threw  his  command  into  confusion ; 
but,  on  bringing  up  the  remainder  of  his  corps, 
he  renewed  the  attack,  only  to  be  met,  however, 
by  a  severe  repulse.  During  the  night  the  Con- 
federate commands  of  Early  and  Ewell  came 
upon  the  scene,  together  with  General  Lee,  and 
the  position  taken  up  by  Warren  on  the  previous 
day  was  strengthened  against  the  expected  re- 
newed attack  on  the  morrow.  The  9th  of  May 
brought  the  whole  of  Grant's  army  to  the  Court 
House,  when  a  general  assault  of  the  Confederate 
lines  was  ordered,  Warren,  Sedgwick,  Hancock, 
and  Burnside  taking  part  in  the  attack.  In  the 
melee  that  ensued,  the  Federals  lost  heavily, 
though  they  fought  gallantly,  delivering  during 
the  day  no  less  than  twelve  assaults. 

The  day  of  the  llth  was  spent  by  the  Federals  in 
getting  ready  for   an  elaborate  attack  on  the 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  185 

right  center  of  the  Southern  line,  that  part  of  the 
Confederate  position  being  deemed  by  General 
Grant  the  weakest,  as  it  proved.  On  the  follow- 
ing day,  the  assault  was  fiercely  launched,  Han- 
cock massing  his  men  there  chiefly  against  the 
command  of  General  Edward  Johnson  of  Swell's 
division.  After  a  desperate  resistance  by  the 
latter,  his  command  was  overpowered,  and  the 
Confederate  defense  line  was  cut  in  two,  while 
3,000  of  Johnson's  men,  including  the  General 
himself,  were  taken  prisoners  by  Hancock.  The 
consequence  of  this  was  to  force  Lee  to  withdraw 
to  interior  lines,  after  a  vain  attempt  had  been 
made  to  recapture  the  position  that  Johnson  had 
lost.  The  enemy  were  unable,  however,  to  pene- 
trate further  the  Southern  position  or  break  Lee's 
lines  at  other  points.  It  was  then  that  Grant,  in 
his  wonted  dogged  way,  wrote  to  the  War  author- 
ities at  Washington  :  "  I  propose  to  fight  it  out 
on  this  line,  if  it  takes  all  summer " — a  threat, 
however,  which,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  was 
not  enforced.  From  the  14th  to  the  18th  (of  May) 
desultory  fighting  went  on ;  though  two  deter- 
mined assaults  on  the  Southern  lines  were  de- 
livered by  the  Federals,  which  Lee  was  able  to 
repulse,  with  heavy  losses  to  the  Union  troops. 
On  the  19th  Lee  discerned  signs  of  the  Federals 


186  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

giving  up  the  attempt  to  carry  his  position  and  of 
moving  off,  possibly  with  the  design  of  marching 
directly  upon  Richmond.  This,  however,  was  not 
Grant's  immediate  purpose  ;  his  motive  clearly 
was  to  draw  Lee  from  his  strong  position,  which 
he  found  he  could  not  hope  to  take,  in  spite  of  his 
announced  purpose  "to  hold  on  all  summer." 
Presently  Grant's  design,  in  abandoning  the  re- 
gion of  the  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  was  to 
take  up  a  position  on  the  North  Anna  River,  one 
of  the  head  streams  of  the  Pamunkey,  so  as  to 
get  round  the  Confederate  right,  but  really  to 
disengage  Lee  from  a  position  which  Grant 
had  spent  twelve  days  in  finding  to  be  unas- 
sailable. 

No  sooner  was  this  Federal  movement  noted  by 
Lee  than  he  sought  to  interfere  with  it.  This  he 
did,  first,  by  inflicting,  through  the  agency  of 
Swell's  corps,  a  heavy  blow  upon  the  retiring 
Federals,  which  delayed  its  movements  from  the 
19th  to  the  21st  of  May,  and  then  by  ordering  an 
advance  of  his  own  men,  by  a  shorter  route  than 
that  taken  by  Grant,  to  the  south  bank  of  the 
North  Anna.  This  accomplished,  he  once  more 
surprised  his  adversary  by  revealing  the  Con- 
federates in  mass  confronting  him.  When  Grant 
reached  the  river,  he  at  once  threw  Warren  and 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  187 

Hancock's  commands  across  it,  to  grapple  again 
with  the  foe.  Only  Hancock's  corps  was  opposed 
by  Lee  in  crossing  the  stream  ;  after  which  the 
Southern  leader  astutely  thrust  his  center  be- 
tween the  two  wings  of  Grant's  army  and  put 
the  Federals  at  enormous  disadvantage.  Being 
thus  handicapped,  the  Federal  commander,  after 
a  reconnaissance  which  showed  the  hopelessness 
of  renewed  fighting  in  the  region,  recrossed  the 
North  Anna,  contenting  himself  with  the  small 
game  of  destroying  some  miles  of  the  Virginia 
Central  railroad.  After  this,  he  set  out  with  his 
entire  army,  and,  after  making  a  wide  detour 
eastward,  he  advanced  southward  along  the  Pam- 
unkey  in  the  direction  of  the  York  River  and 
the  waterway  into  Chesapeake  Bay.  This  new 
movement,  which  was  effected  towards  the  close 
of  May,  brought  Grant  into  water-communication 
with  the  sea  ;  while  Lee  met  it  by  retiring  south 
with  his  army  toward  Richmond,  and  took  up  a 
strong  position  in  front  of  the  Chickahominy, 
the  Federal  forcing  of  which  river  would,  as  Lee 
felt  sure,  bring  on  a  great  battle. 

A  sore  struggle,  indeed,  here  ensued,  that 
which  precipitated  the  bloody  battle  of  Cold 
Harbor,  near  the  site  of  that  of  Games'  Mill, 
which  had  been  fought  two  years  before,  The 


188 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 


operations  in  the  region  began  on  May  31  by  a 
preliminary  conflict  between  Sheridan's  cavalry 
corps  and  that  of  Fitzhugh  Lee.  The  army  of 
the  Potomac  coming  up  on  the  following  day, 
the  Federals  proceeded  to  entrench  themselves 
temporarily  behind  some  slight  earthworks,  from 
which,  on  the  3rd  of  June,  they  advanced  to  the 
attack.  Lee's  success  in  preparing  for  the  as 
sault  was  instantly  apparent  in  the  hot  repulse 
the  Federals  met  with,  the  attacking  columns 
being  met  with  so  disastrous  a  fire  that  hardly 
any  life  could  live  before  it.  So  dire  was  the 
Confederate  fire  that  seven  colonels  of  Hancock's 
attacking  columns  fell  mortally  wounded.  The 
battle  was  no  sooner  begun  than  it  was  ended ; 
the  losses  to  the  Federals  resulting  from  all 
casualties  in  the  engagements  of  the  1st  and  3rd 
of  June  reaching,  it  is  chronicled,  close  upon 
10,000  !  So  incredible  seems  the  havoc  in  the 
Unionist  ranks  in  these  two  days'  fighting,  that 
we  deem  it  proper  to  vouch  for  the  figures  from 
an  authoritative  source — that  given  in  A.  A.  Hum- 
phreys' narrative  of  "The  Virginia  Campaign 
of  1864-65,"  where  that  writer  affirms  that  "ac- 
cording to  the  report  of  the  Medical  Director, 
Surgeon  McParlin,  the  wounded  brought  to  the 
hospitals  frc/m  the  battle  of  the  3rd  of  June  num- 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN.  189 

bered  4,517.  The  dead  were  at  least  1,100.  The 
wounded  brought  to  the  hospitals  from  the 
battle  of  the  1st  of  June  were  2,125 ;  the  killed 
were  not  less  than  500.  The  wounded  on  the  1st 
and  3rd  of  June  were,  therefore,  6,642,  and  the 
killed  not  less  than  1,600  ;  but,  adopting  the 
number  of  killed  and  missing  furnished  General 
Badeau  from  the  Adjutant-General's  office,  1,769 
killed,  1,537  missing  (many — most,  indeed — of 
them,  no  doubt,  killed)  we  have  8,411  for  the 
killed  and  wounded,  and  for  the  total  casualties, 
9,948."  The  Southern  losses,  it  may  be  added, 
were,  on  the  other  hand,  not  more  than  1,600. 
From  this  it  will  be  seen  how  severely  Grant  had 
been  beaten  at  Cold  Harbor — a  beating  which  he 
so  far  scrupled  at  the  time  to  admit  that  he 
hesitated  for  a  while  to  send  a  flag  of  truce  to 
General  Lee,  asking  permission  to  rescue  his 
wounded  from  the  battlefield  and  bury  his  dead. 
The  battle  closed  with  the  Confederates  in  full 
possession  of  their  position  and  defenses ;  while 
Grant  withdrew  his  army  from  the  field,  and, 
crossing  the  James,  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to 
Petersburg.  Thus  ended,  practically  in  failure  to 
Grant's  designs,  the  Wilderness  Campaign,  with 
the  contests  that  grew  out  of,  or  followed  upon 
it.  The  ambition  which  led  the  Federal  lieu- 


190  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

tenant-general  so  boastfully  to  engage  in  it,  cost 
the  North  a  loss  bordering  upon  60,000  men  ! " 

Before  passing  to  another  chapter,  it  will, 
perhaps,  seem  proper  here  to  answer  a  question 
which  the  readers  may  probably  have  asked  him- 
self, "  What,  meanwhile,  had  become  of  Lee's 
invaluable  cavalry  officer,  General  J.  E.  B. 
Stuart  ? "  The  answer,  unhappily,  is  a  brief  one, 
viz.,  that  he  lost  his  gallant  life  in  an  engagement 
on  the  llth  of  May  (1864),  near  Richmond,  when 
repelling  a  raid  upon  the  Confederate  capital  by 
General  Sheridan,  who  had  been  detached  upon 
that  mission  by  General  Grant  after  the  opening 
battles  in  the  Wilderness.  His  loss  was  a  severe 
one  to  the  Confederacy,  as  he  ranked  foremost 
among  the  Cavalry  generals  of  the  Civil  War.* 

*  On  May  20th,  General  Lee,  in  announcing  to  his  army  the 
death  of  Major-General  Stuart,  paid  the  following  high  tribute 
to  his  memory :  "  Among  the  gallant  soldiers  who  have  fallen 
in  the  war,  General  Stuart  was  second  to  none  in  valor,  in 
zeal,  and  in  unflinching  devotion  to  his  country.  His  achieve- 
ments form  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  history  of  this  army, 
with  which  his  name  and  services  will  be  forever  associated. 
To  military  capacity  of  a  high  order,  and  to  the  nobler  virtues 
of  the  soldier,  he  added  the  brighter  graces  of  a  pure  life, 
guided  and  sustained  by  the  Christian's  faith  and  hope.  .  .  . 
His  grateful  countrymen  will  mourn  his  loss  and  cherish  his 
memory.  To  his  comrades-in-arms  he  has  left  the  proud 
recollections  of  his  deeds  and  the  inspiring  influence  of  hia 
example." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OPERATIONS  ON  THE  SOUTH    SIDE    OP    THE    JAMES 
RIVER  AND  THE  SIEGE  OP  PETERSBURG. 

BAULKED  in  his  endeavor  to  reach  Richmond 
from  the  North,  Grant  sought  now,  as  we  have 
related,  to  reach  it  by  abandoning  the  line  of  the 
Chickahominy,  crossing  the  James,  and,  with  the 
assistance  of  Butler,  now  at  Petersburg,  to  attempt 
the  movement  from  the  south.  This  resolution  of 
Grant's  was  put  in  action  on  the  night  of  the  12th 
of  June,  when  the  Federal  leader  proceeded,  by 
way  of  White  House  and  Wilcox's  Landing,  across 
the  James ;  and  by  the  16th  of  the  month  the 
Federal  hosts  were  massed  at  Petersburg,  the 
"  backdoor  of  Richmond,"  which  was  held  by 
General  Beauregard.  The  same  day  (June  16) 
found  part  of  Lee's  army,  now  numbering  only 
30,000  men,  south  of  the  James,  the  divisions  of 
Pickett  and  Field  being  almost  at  once  engaged 
in  an  attack  upon  Butler,  assisted  by  the  force? 
under  Beauregard. 

While  these  new  dispositions  in  the  armies  of 
191 


192  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

Grant  and  Lee  were  being  made,  the  Federal 
general,  Hunter,  was  engaged  in  the  task  Gen- 
eral Sigel  had  been  occupied  with,  of  raiding  and 
burning  in  the  Valley  of  the  Virginia,  destroying 
the  railroad  tracks  and  bridges,  and  committing 
many  outrages  in  the  region,  including  the  de- 
vastating and  burning  of  homesteads.  By  the 
16th  of  June,  Hunter  had  set  himself  the  task  of 
attacking  the  town  of  Lyiichburg,  then  held  by  a 
small  local  force  of  Confederates,  supplemented 
by  the  command  of  General  Breckenridge.  News 
of  this  reaching  Lee,  the  latter  detached  Early 
from  his  army  with  10,000  men  to  bring  Hunter's 
wild  career  to  a  close  ;  this  had  the  desired  effect, 
for  on  Early's  reaching  Lynchburg,  which  had 
already  repulsed  the  Federal  attack,  he  found 
Hunter  and  his  command  in  full  retreat  from  the 
place,  passing  out  of  the  region  through  Western 
Virginia.  All  that  Early  had  for  his  pains,  was 
to  get  upon  the  rear  of  Hunter's  retreating  force, 
when  he  captured  a  number  of  prisoners,  besides 
the  prize  of  thirteen  pieces  of  artillery. 

From  the  middle  of  June,  1864,  to  April  3rd, 
1865,  Grant's  operations  before  Petersburg  con- 
tinued with  varying  but  wearying  fortunes.  The 
operations,  the  while,  had  little  of  the  character 
of  a  siege ;  nor,  save  for  the  protection  of  the 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  193 

Confederate  capital,  whose  fortunes  were  linked 
with  those  of  Petersburg,  was  it  worth  Lee's 
while  to  fritter  away  the  strength  and  patience 
of  his  army,  for  nearly  nine  months,  in  front  of 
the  city.  But  while  the  Army  of  the  James  re- 
mained there,  there,  necessarily,  must  Lee  and 
his  veterans  remain  also.  Had  events  gone  more 
favorably  for  the  South  in  other  sections  of  the 
country,  Lee's  detention  so  long  at  Petersburg 
would  not  have  greatly  mattered  ;  but  the  turn 
of  the  tide  elsewhere,  adverse  to  the  Confederacy, 
and  the  great  and  increasing  preponderance  in  the 
numbers  of  the  Federal  armies,  were  Lee's,  and  the 
South's,  undoing.  All  our  hero  could  do  was  but 
to  bend  his  head,  as  he  ever  did,  to  the  will  of 
Heaven,  in  ordering  events  otherwise,  even  to  the 
blasting  of  Southern  hopes. 

Shortly  after  settling  down  to  the  protracted 
investment  of  Petersburg,  Grant  ordered  elaborate 
assaults  upon  the  place,  though  results  were  not  as 
he  anticipated  ;  nor  did  they  compensate  for  the 
frightful  slaughter  they  occasioned.  All  that  was 
practically  gained  from  them,  or,  at  least,  from 
those  of  the  15th,  IGth,  and  17th  of  June,  was  the 
carrying  of  portions  of  the  Confederate  exterior 
lines,  which  did  not  effect  any  more  important 
purpose  than  to  add  to  the  area  of  the  Federal 


194  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

entrenchments.  It  is  on  record  that  Grant's  losses 
in  these  assaults  did  not  fall  much  short  of  10,000 
men  ;  while  the  Confederate  casualties  were  not 
a  third  of  that  number.  Up  to  this  time,  when 
the  siege  operations  proper  are  claimed  to 
have  been  begun,  there  had  been  little  accom- 
plished by  the  Union  army  beyond  the  four  day 
assaults  (June  15-18),  if  we  exclude  the  general 
raiding  in  the  neighborhood,  with  the  design  of 
destroying  the  Weldon  railroad,  which  connects 
Petersburg  with  the  Confederate  capital.  Even 
in  that  operation  and  other  general  skirmishing 
in  the  vicinity,  success  did  not  altogether  lie  with 
the  North.  This  we  may  see  from  the  two  sub- 
joined reports  of  General  Lee  to  the  Confederate 
Secretary  of  War  at  Richmond,  under  the  dates, 
respectively,  of  June  22nd  and  29th  (1864).  On 
the  first  of  these  dates,  Lee  writes : 

"  Since  Friday  last  there  has  been  skirmishing 
along  the  lines  in  front  of  Bermuda  Hundreds  and 
around  Petersburg.  The  Federal  army  appears 
to  be  concentrated  at  these  two  places,  and  is 
strongly  entrenched. 

"  Yesterday,  a  movement  of  infantry,  cavalry, 
and  artillery,  was  made  towards  the  right  of  our 
forces  and  Petersburg,  in  the  direction  of  the 
Weldon  railroad.  The  enemy  was  driven  back, 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  195 

and  his  infantry  is  reported  to  have  halted.  His 
cavalry  have  continued  to  advance  upon  the  road 
by  a  route  further  removed  from  our  position. 

"The  enemy's  infantry  was  attacked  this 
afternoon,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Jerusalem 
plank  road,  and  driven  from  his  first  line  of  works 
to  his  second  on  that  road,  by  General  Mahone, 
with  a  part  of  his  division.  About  1,600  pris- 
oners, 4  pieces  of  artillery,  8  stands  of  colors,  and 
a  large  stand  of  small-arms  were  captured." 

Under  date  of  June  29th,  the  Confederate 
commander-in-chief  reports  to  Richmond  : 

"General  Hampton  states  that  he  attacked  the 
enemy's  cavalry  yesterday  afternoon  on  their 
return  from  Staunton  River  bridge,  this  side  of 
Sappony  Church,  and  drove  them  beyond  that 
point.  The  fight  continued  during  the  night, 
and  at  daylight  this  morning  he  turned  their  left 
and  routed  them.  When  they  reached  Reame's 
Station  they  were  confronted  by  a  portion  of 
Mahone's  division,  who  attacked  them  in  front, 
while  their  left  flank  was  turned  by  General 
Fitzhugh  Lee's  cavalry.  The  enemy  was  com- 
pletely routed,  and  several  pieces  of  artillery, 
with  a  number  of  prisoners,  wagons,  ambulances, 
etc.,  were  captured.  The  cavalry  are  in  pursuit. 

R.  E.  Lee,  General." 


196  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

If  Grant  expected  to  take  Petersburg  by  a 
coup  de  main,  he  was  grievously  disappointed  ; 
his  attacks  on  it  in  the  middle  of  July,  as  we  have 
shown,  were  practically  fruitless,  while  they 
brought  only  calamitous  loss  of  life.  In  the 
North,  there  was  at  this  time  (gold  in  New  York 
was  then  over  2.50)  a  widespread  feeling  of  dis- 
appointment, as  well  as  of  impatience,  at  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  conducted  the  cam- 
paign, with  its  ruthless  waste  of  human  life. 
The  war  of  invasion  was  in  many  Northern 
journals  bluntly  spoken  of  as  a  tragic  and  costly 
failure  ;  while  sympathy  was  not  even  withheld 
from  the  brave  Lee  and  his  ragged  and  ill- fed 
veterans,  who  had  won  their  admiration,  and,  in 
spite  of  all  their  disadvantages,  had  accom- 
plished so  much.  Nor,  in  military  quarters, 
did  it  escape  notice  that  Grant's  heedless  and 
unfeeling  tactics  in  the  field — in  marked  con- 
trast to  those  of  the  humane  and  considerate  Lee 
— were  breeding  discontent  in  his  army,  and 
giving  birth  to  a  feeling  of  hopelessness  in  the 
ranks  when  ordered  out  on  rash  ventures.  This 
is  specially  and  pointedly  noted  in  General  F.  A. 
Walker's  "  Life  of  General  Hancock,"  when 
referring  particularly  to  the  Second  corps  of 
Grant's  army,  on  whose  services  in  critical 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  1<J7 

undertakings  Grant  largely  relied.     The  passage 
is  as  follows : 

"  As  the  corps  turned  southward  from  Cold 
Harbor  to  take  its  part  in  the  second  act  of  the 
great  campaign  of  1864,  the  historian"  (relates 
General  Walker)  "is  bound  to  confess  that 
something  of  its  pristine  virtue  had  departed 
under  the  terrific  blows  that  had  been  showered 
upon  it  in  the  series  of  fierce  encounters 
which  have  been  recited.  Its  casualties  had 
averaged  more  than  four  hundred  a  day  for 
the  whole  period  since  it  crossed  the  Rapidan  .  . . 
moreover,  the  confidence  of  the  troops  in  their 
leaders  had  been  severely  shaken.  They  had 
again  and  again  been  ordered  to  attacks  which 
the  very  privates  in  the  ranks  knew  to  be  hope- 
less from  the  start ;  they  had  seen  the  fatal 
policy  of '  assaults  all  along  the  line,  '  persisted 
in  even  after  the  most  ghastly  failures ;  and 
they  had  almost  ceased  to  expect  victory  when 
they  went  into  battle.  The  lamentable  story  of 
Petersburg  "  (the  historian-critic  adds)  "  cannot  be 
understood  without  reference  to  facts  like  these." 
In  sharp  contrast  to  this  feeling  of  despondency 
and  discontent  in  Grant's  command  was  the 
hopefulness  manifested  by  all  ranks  of  Lee's 
army,  their  ready  alacrity  to  undertake  any 


198  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

enterprise  their  beloved  leader  asked  of  them, 
and  their  fidelity  and  attachment  to  the  person 
of  their  great  chieftain.  To  their  cause — a  lost 
one  though  it  was  to  be — they  were,  moreover, 
and  to  the  last,  ever  staunchly  and  enthusiasti- 
cally loyal  and  faithful.  This  is  well  borne 
out  and  attested  in  a  passage  occurring  at  the 
close  of  the  chapter,  on  '  The  Campaign  in  the 
Wilderness,'  in  Professor  H.  A.  White's  admi- 
rable "  Life  of  Robert  E.  Lee  and  the  Southern 
Confederacy"  (N.  Y.,  Putnams,  1902).  "The 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,"  observes  the  in- 
teresting and  well-informed  writer  of  the  biogra- 
phy, "  still  retained  its  old  elasticity  and  vigor. 
Lee's  losses"  (in  the  Wilderness  Campaign) 
amounted  to  about  20,000.  The  spirit  of  the 
soldiers  was  yet  buoyant.  The  old  yell  had 
gathered  additional  fierceness  ;  the  men  went 
into  battle  with  all  their  former  dash  and 
impetuosity.  Perhaps  not  one  in  Lee's  heroic 
band  held  a  doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  success  ot 
the  Confederacy."  , 

At  the  beginning  of  July,  when  discontent  was 
rife  in  the  North  at  the  protracted  and  costly 
campaign  Grant  was  conducting,  and  when 
Washington  was  but  indifferently  protected  by 
Federal  troops,  while  high  military  officers  in  the 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  199 

National  capital  were  known  to  be  engrossed  in 
petty  jealousies  of  each  other,  Lee  despatched  his 
trusted  colleague,  General  Early,  with  a  force  of 
10,000  men,  across  the  Potomac  to  invade  Mary- 
land and  threaten  Washington.  From  the 
Southern  point  of  view,  the  projected  raid  north- 
ward was  a  politic  one  under  the  circumstances  ; 
while  it  was  most  disconcerting  and  embarrassing 
to  the  Washington  authorities  and  created  con- 
sternation throughout  the  North.  It  moreover 
diverted  to  the  capital  a  large  contingent  of  troops 
organized  at  New  Orleans,  which  were  designed  as 
additions  to  Grant's  army  ;  while,  at  the  close  of 
the  month  (July,  1864),  it  drew  from  his  cavalry 
command  at  Petersburg  the  dashing  Sheridan. 
From  the  latter  officer's  "Personal  Memoirs" 
(N.  Y.,  1888),  we  extract  an  interesting  account 
of  the  expedition  of  Early,  with  its  chief  incidents, 
and  the  efforts  that  were  made  in  the  North  to 
interfere  with  and  put  an  end  to  it.  "  By  rapid 
marching,"  relates  General  Sheridan,  "  Early 
reached  Winchester  on  the  2nd  of  July,  and  on 
the  4th  occupied  Martinsburg,  driving  General 
Sigel  out  of  that  place  the  same  day  that  Hunter's 
troops,  after  their  fatiguing  retreat  through  the 
mountains,  reached  Charlestown,  West  Virginia. 
Early  was  thus  enabled  to  cross  the  Potomac; 


2QO  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

without  difficulty,  when,  moving  around  Harper's 
Ferry,  through  the  gaps  of  the  South  Mountain, 
he  found  his  path  unobstructed  till  he  reached  the 
Monocacy,  where  Rickett's  division  of  the  Sixth 
corps,  and  some  raw  troops  that  had  been  col- 
lected by  General  Lew  Wallace,  met  and  held  the 
Confederates  till  the  other  reinforcements  that 
had  been  ordered  to  the  capital  from  Petersburg 
could  be  brought  up.  Wallace  contested  the  line 
of  the  Monocacy  with  obstinacy,  but  had  to  retire 
finally  toward  Baltimore.  The  road  was  then 
open  to  Washington,  and  Early  marched  to  the 
outskirts  and  began  against  the  capital  the  dem- 
onstrations (July  11-12)  which  were  designed  to 
divert  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  its  main 
purpose  in  front  of  Petersburg.  Early's  audacity 
in  thus  threatening  Washington  had  caused  some 
concern  to  the  officials  in  the  city,  but  as  the  move- 
ment was  looked  upon  by  General  Grant  as  a  mere 
foray,  which  could  have  no  decisive  issue,  the 
Administration  was  not  much  disturbed  till  the 
Confederates  came  in  close  proximity.  Then  was 
repeated  the  alarm  and  consternation  of  two 
years  before,  fears  for  the  safety  of  the  capital 
being  magnified  by  the  confusion  and  discord 
existing  among  the  different  generals  in  Wash- 
ington and  Baltimore ;  and  the  imaginary  clangers 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  201 

vanished  only  with  the  appearance  of  General 
Wright,  who  with  the  Sixth  corps  and  one  divi- 
sion of  the  Nineteenth  corps,  pushed  out  to  attack 
Early  as  soon  as  he  could  get  his  arriving  troops 
in  hand,  but  under  circumstances  that  precluded 
celerity  of  movement.  As  a  consequence,  the 
Confederates  escaped  with  little  injury,  retiring 
across  the  Potomac  to  Leesburg,  unharassed  save 
by  some  Union  cavalry  that  had  been  sent  out  into 
London  county  by  Hunter,  who,  in  the  meantime, 
had  arrived  at  Harper's  Ferry  by  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  railroad. 

"  From  Leesburg  Early  retired  through  Win- 
chester toward  Strasburg,  but  when  the  head  of 
his  column  reached  this  place  he  found  that  he 
was  being  followed  by  General  Crook  with  the 
combined  troops  of  Hunter  and  Sigel  only,  Wright 
having  returned  to  Washington  under  orders  to 
rejoin  Meade  at  Petersburg.  This  reduction  of 
the  pursuing  force  tempting  Early  to  resume  the 
offensive,  he  attacked  Crook  at  Kernstown,  and 
succeeded  in  administering  such  a  check  as  to 
necessitate*  this  general's  retreat  to  Martinsburg, 
and  finally  to  Harper's  Ferry.  Crook's  with- 
drawal restored  to  Early  the  line  of  the  Upper 
Potomac,  so,  recrossing  this  stream,  he  advanced 
again  into  Maryland,  and  sending  McCausland  oij 


202  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

to  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  laid  that  town  in  ashes 
[July  30],  leaving  3,000  non-coinbatants  without 
shelter  or  food.  .  .  . 

"This  second  irruption  of  Early,  and  his  ruth- 
less destruction  of  Chambersburg,  led  to  many 
recommendations  on  the  part  of  General  Grant 
looking  to  a  speedy  elimination  of  the  confusion 
then  existing  among  the  Union  forces  along  the 
Upper  Potomac,  but  for  a  time  the  authorities 
at  Washington  would  approve  none  of  his  propo- 
sitions. .  .  .  Finally  the  maneuvers  of  Early 
and  the  raid  to  Chambersburg  compelled  a  par- 
tial compliance,  though  Grant  had  somewhat 
circumvented  the  difficulty  already  by  deciding  to 
appoint  a  commander  for  the  forces  in  the  field 
that  were  to  operate  against  Early.  On  the  31st 
of  July,  General  Grant  selected  me  as  this  com- 
mander. .  .  .  On  the  evening  of  August  1, 1  was 
relieved  from  immediate  duty  with  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  but  not  from  command  of  the 
cavalry  as  a  corps  organization.  I  arrived  at 
Washington  August  4,  and  the  next  day  received 
instructions  from  General  Halleck  to  report  to 
General  Grant  at  Monocacy  Junction,  whither 
he  had  gone  direct  from  City  Point,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  characteristic  despatch  from  the 
President  indicating  his  disgust  with  the  con- 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  203 

fusion,  disorder,  and  helplessness  prevailing 
along  the  Upper  Potomac,  and  intimating  that 
Grant's  presence  there  was  necessary." 

This  extract,  which  is  longer  than  at  the  out- 
set we  intended  to  make,  sets  forth  the  essential 
incidents  in  General  Early 's  expedition  towards 
the  national  capital.  It  at  the  same  time  makes 
clear,  what  we  have  already  pointed  out,  the 
unseemly  contentions,  caballings,  and  jealousies 
rife  among  the  Northern  generals,  and  that  at 
a  critical  juncture  of  affairs,  when  the  nation  was 
riven  asunder  by  civil  war,  and  when  patriotism 
and  loyalty  to  the  cause  these  officers  professed 
to  uphold  counselled  concord  and  amity  among 
brethren  in  the  profession  of  arms.  How  sore  a 
trial,  in  addition  to  all  else  he  had  at  this  era  to 
bear,  these  contentions  were  to  the  head  of  the 
Federal  nation — so  soon  now  to  come  to  a  piti- 
ful and  tragical  end — we  can  readily  conceive  ; 
and  well  was  Lincoln  justified  in  calling  upon 
Grant  at  this  period,  as  in  his  perplexity  we  see 
that  he  did,  to  seek  aid  in  making  peace  among 
the  responsible  though  jarring  chiefs  of  the 
Unionist  arms. 

But  we  once  more  turn  our  attention  to  our 
narrative  proper,  though  in  the  interval  there 
has  been  little  occurring  at  Petersburg  to  record, 


204:  LIF*  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

save  the  progress  of  Federal  entrenching,  and 
the  construction  of  what  is  known  as  Burnside's 
Mine,  to  be  used  against  the  fortifications  of  the 
city,  and  its  gallant  defenders  within  and  with- 
out its  walls.  The  story  of  this  Mine,  it  has  to 
be  related,  is  a  tragical  one,  with  an  almost 
farcical  cast,  for  what  had  taken  many  weeks' 
expenditure  of  labor  and  material  to  prepare, 
and  launch  against  the  foe,  recoiled,  and  with 
most  disastrous  effect,  upon  the  Federals  who 
had  prepared,  and  upon  the  sacrificed  assaulting 
columns  that  took  part  in  the  attack,  after  the 
mine  was  fired  (July  30th).  The  mine  was  ex- 
cavated behind  a  concealed  portion  of  the  Federal 
lines,  a  ravine  in  rear  of  Burnside's  command, 
and  extended  along  a  tunnel-way,  over  500  feet 
in  length,  to  a  point  immediately  underneath  a 
projecting  angle  of  the  Confederate  defences, 
known  as  Elliott's  Salient,  at  the  time  occupied 
by  300  of  Elliott's  Carolinian  corps,  together 
with  a  battery  of  guns.  Here,  in  this  ghastly 
subterranean  passage-way,  were  deposited  some 
8000  pounds  of  blasting  powder,  which,  when  the 
match  was  applied  to  it,  was  not  only  to  blow 
up  the  300  Carolinians  and  the  battery  on  the 
angle  crest,  but  to  cause  such  consternation  to 
the  Confederates  and  damage  to  their  fortifi- 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  205 

cations,  that  it  would  be  easy,  it  was  thought, 
to  assault  and  carry  Petersburg  and  capture  its 
doomed  defenders. 

Extensive  preparations  had  previously  been 
made  by  the  Federals  for  this  direful  attempt  to 
capture  Petersburg.  A  monster  array  of  mortars 
and  heavy  guns  were  put  in  position  to  assist  in 
the  assault ;  while  more  than  half  of  Grant's 
large  army  was  drawn  up,  in  addition  to  the  as- 
saulting columns,  to  be  precipitated  against  the 
breaches  about  to  be  made  in  the  "rebel"  de- 
fences, and,  when  the  crucial  moment  arrived,  to 
be  thrown  into,  seize,  and  occupy  the  city,  the 
defenders  of  which,  it  was  thought,  would  be  so 
paralyzed  by  the  firing  of  the  mine  as  to  become 
easy  Federal  prey.  The  time,  moreover,  had  been 
well  chosen  for  the  assault,  for  at  the  period  Lee 
and  a  large  portion  of  his  command,  by  a  piece  of 
strategy  on  Grant's  part,  had  been  lured  across  the 
James  River,  some  twenty  miles  from  the  place, 
to  defend  an  outlying  Confederate  post  against 
attack  by  Sheridan  and  Hancock,  whose  ulterior 
design  was  to  march  upon  Richmond.  The  out- 
lying post,  it  was  found,  however,  was  so  strongly 
protected  that  the  expedition  against  it  was  unable 
to  effect  anything,  and  so  was  recalled  ;  Lee  and 


206  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

his    command  returning  to    Petersburg  almost 
simultaneously. 

Meantime,  all  having  "been  made  ready,  the 
mine  was  sprung,  the  explosion  blowing  up  the 
Confederate  fort  in  the  air,  and  with  it  its  300 
garrison,  but  leaving  an  immense  crater,  over 
30  feet  deep,  140  feet  in  length,  and  65  feet  in 
width,  partly  filled  with  a  mass  of  loose  earth, 
impossible  for  the  Federal  troops  to  get  over  on 
their  way  to  the  assault.  Into  this  chasm,  how- 
ever, the  Federal  forlorn  hope,  composed  of  white 
and  black  soldiery,  were  sent,  only  to  become  an 
entangled  and  confused  mass,  upon  whom,  when 
the  Confederates  recovered  from  their  surprise 
and  rallied  their  defending  forces,  they  poured  a 
fire  of  so  destructive  a  character  that  no  life  could 
live  through  it.  To  add  to  the  confusion  in  the 
crater,  the  supporting  Federal  columns  were  also 
pushed  forward,  quickly  losing  their  formation, 
and  huddling  all  up  inextricably  ;  while  an  in- 
describable panic  seized  the  whole,  as  they  were 
mowed  down  by  the  merciless  Confederate  fire. 
The  place  became  a  veritable  charnel-house  and 
death-trap,  though  the  Federals  bravely  sought 
to  remedy  matters,  and,  in  spite  of  the  confusion 
worse  confounded,  attempted  to  reach  the  crest  of 
the  "rebel"  positions;  but  all  were  driven  help- 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  207 

lessly  back  or  fell  victims  to  the  withering  fire 
poured  upon  them.  From  this  scene  of  heart- 
rending and  unresisted  slaughter  few  returned 
to  the  Federal  lines ;  the  losses  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  taken  prisoners,  amounting  to  no  less  than 
4,500  men,  falling  chiefly  on  Ledlie's  division  of 
Burnside's  corps,  and  upon  the  divisions  of  the 
Federal  Ninth  corps  commanded  by  Wilcox  and 
Potter.  The  Confederate  casualties,  including 
the  300  of  the  South  Carolina  infantry  blown  up, 
with  part  of  Pegram's  battery,  in  Elliott's  Salient, 
all  told,  did  not  exceed  1000. 

Thus  ended  the  episode  of  the  Burnside  Mine, 
an  episode  which  in  its  calamitous  and  demoral- 
izing results  was  most  mortifying  to  General 
Grant ;  while  it  created  such  consternation  in  the 
North  that  it  sent  up  the  depreciated  United 
States  currency,  always  extremely  susceptible  to 
Federal  disasters  in  the  field,  to  2.90.  Another 
result  was  to  cause  several  of  the  influential 
Northern  journals  to  renew  the  clamor  to  end 
the  war,  with  a  suggestion,  which  emanated  from 
the  Neiv  York  Herald,  to  despatch  an  embassy  to 
the  Richmond  administration,  seeking  to  bring 
about  that  purpose  by  an  immediate  treaty  of 
peace.  Nothing,  however,  came  of  the  proposal. 

Later  in  the  month  of  August,  and  after  the 


208  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

Federal  army  had  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
the  misdirected  Burnside  Mine  operation,  Grant 
renewed  his  raiding  attempts  in  the  vicinity  of 
his  extended  lines,  chiefly  with  the  intent  of 
destroying  the  Weldon  railroad.  His  further 
design,  no  doubt,  was  to  divert  his  forces  from 
the  tedium  of  trench-construction  and  other 
wearying  siege  duties  in  front  of  Petersburg. 
In  these  raiding  diversions,  which  were  con- 
ducted, under  Grant's  orders,  by  two  infantry 
divisions,  commanded  by  General  Hancock,  as- 
sisted by  General  Warren's  corps,  by  Gregg's 
cavalry,  and  by  a  battery  of  Federal  guns,  mis- 
fortune, in  the  main,  also  pursued  Northern 
operations.  To  check  these  movements,  as  well 
as  to  protect  his  own  flanks,  General  Lee  directed 
General  A.  P.  Hill,  supported  by  Heth's  and 
Mahone's  commands,  Hampton's  cavalry,  and 
Pegram's  guns,  to  move  along  the  endangered 
railway,  upon  which,  and  upon  the  Danville  rail- 
road, Lee's  army  depended  for  its  supplies  from 
Kichmond,  with  the  design,  if  possible,  of  bring- 
ing the  Federals  to  battle.  For  some  days  there 
was  no  other  result  than  sundry  skirmishings ; 
though  by  the  19th  of  August  Warren's  com- 
mand was  come  upon  and  a  heavy  loss  was  caused 
him,  including  the  capture  of  2,500  of  his  men. 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  209 

The  Federals,  meanwhile,  strongly  entrenched 
themselves  by  the  railway,  and  Hill  found  it 
difficult  to  oust  them  or  bring  them  to  battle. 
Thus  was  the  Weldon  road  lost  to  the  Confed- 
erates. This,  however,  did  not  interfere  with 
Hill's  efforts  to  dislodge  the  enemy,  and  fighting 
continued  for  a  time,  the  Federal  losses,  chiefly 
falling  upon  Warren's  corps,  amounting  by  the 
21st  of  the  month  to  4,450  men.  By  the  24th  (of 
August)  Warren's  command  was  re-enforced  by 
the  divisions  under  Hancock,  which  materially 
strengthened  Warren,  especially  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Ream's  Station  on  the  Weldon  railroad. 
Here  a  severe  engagement  took  place,  most  disas- 
trous to  Hancock,  and  disheartening  in  its  effect 
upon  his  spiritless  and  panic-stricken  men.  The 
attack  was  made  by  General  A.  P.  Hill,  led  by  a 
charge  of  Heth's  command,  and  supported  by 
Hampton's  cavalry  and  part  of  Pegram's  battery. 
The  extent  of  the  discomfiture  which  ensued  is 
told  in  General  Lee's  report  to  Richmond,  under 
date  August  26th  (two  days  after  the  encounter). 
Here  is  Lee's  account  of  the  fighting  : 

"  General  A.  P.  Hill  attacked  the  enemy  in  his 
entrenchments  at  Ream's  Station  yesterday  even- 
ing, and  at  the  second  assault  carried  his  entire 
line.  Cooke's  and  McRae's  North  Carolina  brig- 


210  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ades,  under  General  Heth,  and  Lane's  North 
Carolina  brigade  of  Wilcox's  division,  under  Gen- 
eral Connor,  with  Pegrara's  artillery,  composed 
the  assaulting  column.  One  line  of  breast-works 
was  carried  by  the  cavalry,  under  General  Hamp- 
ton, with  great  gallantry,  who  contributed  greatly 
to  the  success  of  the  day.  Seven  stands  of  colors, 
two  thousand  prisoners,  and  nine  pieces  of  artil- 
lery are  in  our  possession.  The  loss  of  the  enemy 
in  killed  and  wounded  is  reported  to  be  heavy  ; 
ours  relatively  small.  Our  profound  gratitude  is 
due  to  the  Giver  of  all  victory,  and  our  thanks  to 
the  brave  men  and  officers  engaged. 

K.  E.  LEE,  General." 

After  the  action  at  Reams'  Station,  little  of  mo- 
ment for  a  month  happened,  save  minor  attacks 
on  the  extension  of  Lee's  position  north  of  the 
James  Eiver.  About  the  middle  of  September  an 
expedition  was  sent  out  under  General  Hampton 
to  attack  a  Federal  post  about  twenty  miles  from 
Petersburg,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Confederate 
cavalry,  to  capture  a  large  drove  of  cattle,  de- 
signed for  the  uses  of  the  Federal  camp,  then  graz- 
ing in  Prince  George  county,  Va.  The  Federal 
post  was  taken  by  surprise,  the  works  and  camp 
being  captured,  with  300  of  a  garrison  ;  while  the 
cattle  were  secured  and  driven  towards  the 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.  211 

"rebel"  camp.  On  the  way,  however,  Hamp- 
ton's column  was  met  by  one  under  the  Federal 
general,  Wilson,  which  sought  to  resist  the  Con- 
federate return  to  Petersburg  and  retake  the 
captured  beeves.  Though  Hampton  lost  fifty 
men  in  the  fight  that  ensued,  he  was  able  to  re- 
turn with  his  command  to  headquarters,  bringing 
with  him  all  the  cattle,  which  proved  a  timely  ac- 
quisition, for  many  weeks,  to  the  ever-scantily- 
supplied  Confederate  camp  leaders. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  AUTUMN  OF  1864,  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5. 

• 

As  the  autumn  of  1864  had  now  come  and  the 
winter  of  1864-5  approached,  the  situation  of 
affairs  in  the  Confederacy  was  extremely  grave 
and  full  of  omen.  Grant,  it  is  true,  had,  so  far, 
effected  little  about  Petersburg,  and  Lee  and  his 
army  were  still  in  fine  fettle.  But  elsewhere  it 
was  going  ill  with  the  South,  and  premonitions 
of  "  a  lost  cause  "  were  beginning  to  arise  in  the 
minds  of  friends  of  the  Confederacy.  The  winter 
months  which  followed  proved  still  more  ominous 
of  the  coming  end,  the  result,  in  the  main,  of 
Sherman's  achievements  in  the  West  and  South 
including  the  taking  of  Atlanta,  the  success  which 
attended  his  famous  "march  to  the  sea,"  his 
later  contests  with  Johnston  and  operations  in 
the  Carolinas,  added  to  Thomas'  triumph  over 
Hood  at  Nashville,  Farragut's  victory  at  Mobile 
Bay,  and  Porter's  capture  of  Fort  Fisher,  closing 
the  sea  to  the  South — a  succession  of  disasters 

which  boded  ill  for  its  cause,  and  ruin  to  it  when 

212 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      213 

Sheridan  defeated  Early  near  Charlottesville, 
won  the  battle  of  Five  Forks,  and  captured  the 
whole  of  Ewell's  command.  All  these  losses 
"  broke  the  back  of  rebellion,"  while  it  gave  joy 
to  the  North,  which  by  this  time  had  re-elected 
Lincoln  and  sustained  his  Administration,  and 
placed  increasing  forces  at  Grant's  command 
against  Lee  and  his  now  fast-dwindling  and 
impoverished  army  at  Petersburg. 

Despite  the  depressing  aspect  of  affairs  through- 
out the  South,  the  heroic  Lee  maintained  unper- 
turbed his  serene  bearing  and  manner,  and  re- 
tained even  a  hopeful  feeling  in  his  breast ;  while 
he  infected  his  army  with  a  like  sense  of  security 
and  hopefulness,  and  led  it  ever  to  manifest  its 
wonted  courage  and  buoyancy  of  spirits,  with 
resignation  to  its  poorly-clad  and  ill-fed  condition. 
One  who  saw  Lee  at  this  critical  era  in  the  affairs 
of  the  South  gives  us  this  description  of  the 
great  leader  and  his  indifference  to  hardship  and 
mental  depression  : 

"His  cheeks  were  ruddy,"  writes  the  observer, 
"  and  his  eye  had  that  clear  light  which  indicates 
the  presence  of  the  calm,  self-poised  will.  But 
his  hair  had  grown  gray,  like  his  beard  and  mus- 
tache, which  were  worn  short  and  well- trimmed. 

"  His  dress,  as  always,  was  a  plain  but  service 


214:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

able  gray  uuiform,  with  no  indications  of  rank 
save  the  stars  on  the  collar.  Cavalry  boots 
reached  nearly  to  his  knees,  and  he  seldom  wore 
any  weapon.  A  broad  brimmed,  gray  felt  hat 
rested  low  upon  the  forehead;  and  the  move- 
ments of  this  soldierly  figure  were  as  firm,  meas- 
ured, and  imposing  as  ever.  It  was  impossible 
to  discern  in  General  Lee  any  evidences  of  im- 
paired strength,  or  any  trace  of  the  wearing 
hardships  through  which  he  had  passed.  He 
seemed  made  of  iron,  and  would  remain  in  the 
saddle  all  day,  and  then  at  his  desk  half  the  night, 
without  apparently  feeling  any  fatigue." 

Before  the  winter  set  in  in  its  rigor,  Grant  once 
more  sought  to  deliver  a  well-prepared  attack  on 
the  Confederate  right.  That  flank,  which  was  a 
long  one,  rested  mainly  behind  strong  entrench- 
ments at  Hatcher's  Run,  beyond  what  is  locally 
known  as  the  Boydton  plank  road,  close  by  the 
South  Side  R.R.  The  attacking  force,  which  set 
out  about  the  end  of  October,  was  a  formidable 
one,  composed  of  the  bulk  of  the  best  fighting 
element  in  Grant's  army— the  5th  and  9th  corps, 
commanded  by  Warren  and  Hancock,  supported 
by  Gregg's  cavalry.  Lee  met  this  new  movement 
with  his  wonted  alertness  and  vigor,  and  there 
was  need  of  this,  for  the  expeditionary  force  sent 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.       215 

out  by  the  Federal  lieutenant-general  was  over 
30,000  strong,  in  addition  to  3,000  cavalry.  Lee's 
defensive  and  offensive  reliance,  as  usual,  was 
upon  the  commands  of  Generals  A.  P.  Hill,  Heth, 
and  Mahone,  and  upon  the  knowledge  possessed 
by  the  troops  of  the  region,  which  was  chiefly  a 
densely  wooded  one,  full  of  wild  underbrush,  of 
an  entangling  and  obstructing  character.  The 
details  of  the  fighting  need  not  detain  us,  for  the 
conflict  was  a  brief  one,  with  little  room  for 
maneuvering  or  display  of  tactics.  The  result 
was,  nevertheless,  disastrous  to  the  Federals,  the 
"  rebel "  position  being  found  too  formidable  for 
hasty  assault,  and  the  expedition  returned  to 
Petersburg  the  same  night.  "  In  the  attack,"  as 
we  learn  from  General  Lee's  subsequent  Report, 
"  General  Mahone  broke  three  lines  of  battle, 
captured  700  prisoners,  three  stands  of  colors,  and 
six  pieces  of  artillery,  the  enemy  retiring  during 
the  night,  leaving  his  wounded  and  more  than  250 
dead  on  the  field."  The  entire  loss  of  the  day's 
operations  to  the  Federals,  besides  the  spoil  taken 
by  "  the  Rebs,"  was  over  1760  men.  After  this, 
there  were  for  months  no  further  hostile  expedi- 
tions set  on  foot  by  Grant ;  only  the  routine  camp 
duties,  enlivened  by  occasional  picket  and  out- 
post firing,  occupied  both  armies  through  the 


216  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

winter.  "On  the  same  day"  (Oct.  27,  1864),  as 
Prof.  H.  A.  White,  in  his  Memoir  of  Lee,  relates, 
"Longstreet  celebrated  his  return  to  the  field  by 
visiting  a  loss  of  more  than  one  thousand  upon 
Butler's  brigades,  who  were  attempting  to  creep 
through  the  White  Oak  Swamp  into  the  Rich- 
mond defenses." 

At  this  time,  Richmond  was  so  uncomfortably 
menaced  by  the  proximity  of  Grant's  army  at 
Petersburg  and  his  numerically  strong  cavalry 
contingent,  as  well  as  by  the  readiness  with 
which  Sheridan  always  manifested  his  disposition 
to  respond  to  Grant's  call  to  lead  expeditionary 
forays  in  the  direction  of  the  Southerners'  capital, 
that  there  was  serious  thought  in  the  minds  of 
the  Confederate  Government  to  retire  from  it, 
and,  ai  Lee  had  suggested,  to  remove  the  machin- 
ery of  administration  to  Danville.  Besides  the 
menace  from  these  sources,  there  was  soon  now 
to  be  dreaded  the  coming  of  Sherman  to  join 
Grant's  Army  of  the  James,  for  nothing  was 
deemed  more  probable  than  that  general,  who  was 
then  undertaking  his  vast  destroying  marches  in 
the  South,  would  fall  upon  Richmond,  now  weak 
in  defensive  force,  and  visit  it  with  the  sword  and 
the  torch.  That  it  had  not  been  captured  ere  this 
was  due  mainly  to  Lee's  constant  solicitude  on  its 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      217 

account,  and  to  his  ready,  practical  interposition 
when  it  was  in  serious  jeopardy  from  the  Federals. 
Evacuation,  unhappily,  as  it  afterwards  turned 
out,  came  to  be  ultimately  necessary,  and  an  en- 
forced measure  of  war  at  the  close  of  the  great 
struggle,  when  the  Confederate  capital  could  do 
no  more  for  Lee — little  really  as  it  had  ever  been 
able  to  do  for  him  who  had  done  so  much  for  it 
and  the  South. 

Just  before  the  affair  at  Hatcher's  Run,  at  the 
close  of  October  (1864),  an  end  had  come  to 
General  Early's  raid  in  the  Valley  of  the  She- 
nandoah  and  the  threatening  of  Washington,  by 
the  return  to  camp  at  Petersburg  of  that  officer. 
That  expedition  had  been  sent  out  by  Lee,  not 
only  as  a  legitimate  reprisal  foray  into  the  enemy's 
country  and  to  bring  near  to  the  North  the  peril 
and  harassments  of  war,  in  the  vast  game  else- 
where played  with  such  vigor  and  daring  over 
great  parts  of  the  country  ;  but  also  to  keep  at 
home  the  forces  needed  for  the  protection  of  the 
Federal  capital,  that  would  otherwise  be  sent  on 
to  the  region  of  the  James,  to  swell  the  already 
large  army  of  Grant  before  Petersburg.  To  op- 
pose Early's  northward  expedition,  Major-General 
Sheridan  had  been  transferred  from  Grant's  army, 
and  in  August  had  been  given  command  of  what 


218  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

was  known  as  the  Middle  Military  Division  of 
the  United  States,  with  a  special  eye  upon  the 
protection  of  Washington  and  the  warding  off  of 
Confederate  raids  into  Maryland,  which  had  been 
provoked  by  the  devastations  caused  by  Generals 
Sigel  and  Hunter's  operations  in  the  Virginia 
Valley. 

Jubal  Early  had  been  off  on  his  expedition  since 
the  beginning  of  July,  and  had  created  much  stir  in 
the  North  by  his  repulse  of  Hunter  at  Lynch- 
burg  and  of  Lew  Wallace  at  Monocacy,  as  well 
as  by  his  despatch  of  a  cavalry  force  into  Penn- 
sylvania, which  burned  Chambersburg  in  retal- 
iation for  Federal  outrages  in  Virginia.  When 
Hunter  had  resigned  his  command  and  Sheridan 
was  appointed,  Lee  supplemented  Early's  force 
by  Kershaw's  division  of  Longstreet's  corps  and 
by  Fitzhugh  Lee's  division  of  cavalry,  both  under 
General  Anderson,  to  cooperate  with  Early,  who 
was  then  in  some  jeopardy  at  Strasburg,  and  in 
need  of  reinforcements.  The  combined  forces  of 
Anderson  and  Early  were  united  at  Winchester, 
where  they  drove  the  Federals  from  the  place 
back  upon  Harper's  Ferry  and  the  Maryland 
Heights.  Later  on,  Anderson,  with  Kershaw's 
division,  was  ordered  by  Lee  to  Culpeper  Court 
House  ;  while  Early,  who  was  still  at  Winchester, 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      219 

was  directed  to  protect  the  Virginia  Central 
Railroad  from  attack,  and  to  make  free  with  the 
harvests,  then  ready  for  the  sickle,  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley,  at  the  same  time  to  be  with- 
in call  should  Lee  require  his  return  to  Peters- 
burg. 

At  the  period  (now  the  middle  of  September), 
Sheridan  and  his  command,  which  was  strong 
in  horse,  moved  from  his  position  at  Berry  ville, 
south  of  Harper's  Ferry,  and  soon  encountered 
Early  at  Winchester.  Here,  the  latter  had  a  force 
only  of  11,000  or  12,000  men  (8,500  muskets  and 
3,000  sabers),  while  Sheridan's  opposing  strength 
was  nearly  three  times  as  large.  At  Winchester, 
in  spite  of  the  great  disparity  in  numbers,  battle 
was  given  by  the  impetuous  Early,  and  to  his 
grievous  loss,  for  2,500  of  his  force  was  captured 
by  Sheridan  ;  while  he  and  his  command  had  to 
fall  back,  hotly  pressed  by  Sheridan,  to  Fisher's 
Hill,  close  to  Strasburg.  Here  battle  was  again 
given,  this  time  by  the  Federal  leader,  who  once 
more  defeated  Early,  with  a  loss  of  many  guns 
and  a  large  part  of  his  command  ;  while  Early 
was  now  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  the  lower 
passes  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  Sheridan 
not  only  pursued  his  Confederate  antagonist,  but 
sent  a  force  forward  to  get  on  his  rear  and  cut 


220  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

off  his  continued  retreat.  On  the  track  of  Early, 
Sheridan  advanced  as  far  as  Staunton,  and  with- 
drew behind  Cedar  Creek,  to  wreck  the  Virginia 
Central  railroad,  and  ruthlessly  to  ravage  and 
lay  waste  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  This  he  did 
not  only  by  laying  hands  on  and  appropriating 
all  animal  life  in  the  region  belonging  to  the 
farmers  and  settlers  in  the  Valley,  but  by  de- 
stroying the  grain  and  forage  with  which  the 
barns  were  at  the  time  filled,  and  burning  a 
great  number  of  mills,  and  a  vast  quantity  of 
agricultural  implements.  This  destruction  of 
everything  of  value  belonging  to  noncombatants 
and  the  desolating  of  the  entire  region  were  acts, 
surely,  of  a  despicable  and  inhuman  character, 
which  one  would  not  expect  to  find  committed  by 
an  otherwise  honored  and  gallant  soldier.  No 
plea  of  acts  justified  by  war  can  or  ought  to  pardon 
such  an  outrage  ;  and  the  remembrance  of  the 
horrid  deeds  cannot  fail  to  stain  the  memory 
of  the  man  who  was  guilty  of  them,  even  under 
superior  orders. 

While  these  atrocities  were  being  committed, 
Early's  command  was  reunited  with  Kershaw's 
division,  which  partly  made  good  the  general's 
losses,  and  emboldened  him  to  renew  the  fight- 
ing at  Ce4ar  Creek,  where  Sheridan's  army  was 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      221 

posted  behind  strong  entrenchments.  The  Fed- 
eral command,  for  the  time  being,  was  assumed 
by  General  Wright,  owing  to  the  temporary  ab- 
sence of  Sheridan.  Wright's  chief  aides  were 
Generals  Ricketts,  Emory,  and  Crook,  who  com- 
manded, respectively,  the  U.  S.  6th,  8th,  and  19th 
corps  ;  while  the  cavalry  was  under  Averill,  Ous- 
ter, and  Merritt.  This  was  the  situation  on  the 
18th  of  October  (1864),  when  General  Early  stole 
quickly  over  night  towards  the  north  fork  of  the 
Shenandoah,  which  he  forced  with  his  command, 
and  silently  moved  at  dawn  on  the  19th  upon  the 
Federal  camp  (Crook's)  at  Cedar  Creek.  Here  he 
took  the  enemy  by  surprise,  captured  many  hun- 
dreds of  them,  (besides  seizing  eighteen  heavy 
guns),  and  drove  the  remainder  of  the  camp  that 
escaped,  in  a  panic-stricken  mass,  down  the  Valley 
Turnpike.  "To  rally  the  men  in  their  bewilder- 
ment was  impossible,"  observes  Mr.  W.  Swinton, 
in  his  record  of  the  Cedar  Creek  fight,  in  his 
"  Campaigns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,"  "and 
Crook's  corps,  being  thoroughly  broken  up,  fled  in 
disorder,  leaving  many  guns  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  As  soon  as  this  flank  attack  was  de- 
veloped, Early,  with  his  other  column,  emerged 
from  behind  the  hills  west  of  Cedar  Creek,  and, 
crossing  that  stream,  struck  directly  the  troops 


222  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

on  the  right  of  Crook.  This  served  to  complete 
the  disaster,  and  the  whole  Union  left  and  center 
became  a  confused  mass,  against  which  the  Con- 
federates directed  the  captured  artillery,  while 
the  flanking  force  swept  forward  to  the  main 
turnpike.  Such  was  the  scene  on  which  the  light 
of  day  dawned.  The  only  force  not  yet  involved 
in  the  enemy's  onset  was  the  Sixth  corps,  which 
by  its  position  was  somewhat  in  rear.  With  this 
General  Kicketts  quickly  executed  a  change  of 
front,  throwing  it  forward  at  right  angles  to  its 
former  position,  and  firmly  withstood  the  enemy's 
shock.  Its  chief  service,  however,  was  to  cover 
the  general  retreat  which  Wright  now  ordered, 
as  the  only  practicable  means  of  reuniting  his 
force.  .  .  . 

"At  the  first  good  position  between  Middle- 
town  and  Newtown,  Wright  was  able  to  rally 
and  re-form  the  troops,  form  a  compact  line,  and 
prepare  either  to  resist  further  attack  or  himself 
assume  the  offensive.  It  was  at  this  time,  about 
half-past  ten  A.M.,  that  General  Sheridan  arrived 
upon  the  field  from  Winchester,  where  he  had 
slept  the  previous  night.  Hearing  '(at  day- 
break, twenty  miles  away)'  the  distant  sounds 
of  battle  rolling  up  from  the  south,  Sheridan 
rode  post-haste  to  the  front,  where,  arriving,  his 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      223 

electric  manner  had  on  the  troops  a  very  in- 
spiriting effect.  General  Wright  had  already 
brought  order  out  of  confusion,  and  made  dis- 
positions for  attack.  ...  A  counter-charge  was 
begun  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  .  .  . 
A  large  part  of  Early's  force,  in  the  intoxication 
of  success,  had  abandoned  their  colors  and  taken 
to  plundering  the  abandoned  Federal  camps. 
The  refluent  wave  was  as  resistless  as  the  Con- 
federate surge  had  been.  .  .  .  The  retreat  soon 
became  a  rout.  ...  In  the  pursuit,  all  the  cap- 
tured guns  were  retaken,  and  twenty- three  in 
addition.  The  captures  included,  besides,  nearly 
1,500  prisoners.  .  .  .  With  this  defeat  of  Early 
all  operations  of  moment  in  the  Shenandoah 
ended,"  and  the  bulk  of  the  troops  on  either  side 
were  recalled  to  Petersburg. 

The  inglorious  termination  of  the  battle  of 
Cedar  Creek,  by  the  misconduct  of  the  men  of 
Early's  command,  was,  naturally,  most  mortify- 
ing to  that  general,  and  drew  from  him,  three 
days  after  the  affair  occurred,  a  sharp  but  now 
futile  reprimand.  In  his  address  to  his  troops, 
General  Early  pointed  out  that  all  the  benefits  of 
the  victory  gained  had  been  lost  and  a  serious 
disaster  incurred  ;  adding  that  had  they  remained 
steadfast  to  their  duty  and  their  colors,  the  battle 


224  L^E  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

would  have  been  "  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  decisive  of  the  war."  "  But,"  continues  the 
general  in  his  address,  "  many  of  you,  including 
some  commissioned  officers,  yielding  to  a  dis- 
graceful propensity  for  plunder,  deserted  your 
colors  to  appropriate  to  yourselves  the  abandoned 
property  of  the  enemy,  and  subsequently  those 
who  had  previously  remained  at  their  posts,  see- 
ing their  ranks  thinned  by  the  absence  of  the  plun- 
derers, when  the  enemy,  late  in  the  afternoon, 
with  his  shattered  columns,  made  but  a  feeble 
effort  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  yielded 
to  a  needless  panic  and  fled  the  field  in  confu- 
sion, thereby  converting  a  splendid  victory  into  a 
disaster." 

The  Shenandoah  Valley  having  been  made  a 
waste,  most  of  the  Confederate  troops  were  either 
recalled  to  Petersburg  or  transferred,  asBrecken- 
ridge's  division  was,  to  Southwestern  Virginia  ; 
while  Early  was  left  at  Staunton,  with  but  the 
remains  of  Wharton's  division.  In  the  Spring 
of  1865,  notwithstanding  his  past  services,  Early 
was  relieved  of  his  command,  when  at  Franklin 
Court  House,  Va.,  so  continued  was  the  outcry 
against  him  for  the  mishap  in  the  Valley,  and  the 
breach  of  discipline  he  had  been  so  conspicuously 
and  disastrously  unable  to  check  in  the  men 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      225 

that  had  composed  the  expedition.  In  taking  the 
step  of  relieving  Early  of  his  duties,  General  Lee, 
in  the  letter  he  sent  him  on  the  occasion,  was 
most  sympathetic  and  conciliatory,  being  careful 
not  to  wound  unnecessarily  the  old  general's  feel- 
ings ;  while  he  thanked  him  for  the  fidelity  and 
courage  shown  by  him  in  always  supporting  his 
(Lee's)  efforts,  and  for  the  devotion  he  had  ever 
manifested  in  the  service  of  the  South. 

Meanwhile,  the  North  had  been  putting  forth 
great  efforts  to  bring  the  conflict  with  the 
South  to  a  close,  and  that  not  only  at  Petersburg 
but  elsewhere,  which  she  was  now  well  able  to 
do,  so  vast  were  her  resources  of  men  and 
material.  At  Petersburg,  the  winter  months 
had  been  most  trying  to  Lee  and  his  long-strung- 
out,  but  now  greatly  thinned,  as  well  as  much 
famished,  army ;  while  Grant's  forces  were  at 
this  time  well-fed  and  cared  for,  having  been  re- 
cruited up  to  120,000  men,  nearly  three  times  the 
number  of  serviceable  troops  his  opponent  had  at 
his  command.  Lee  and  his  veterans  in  gray  were, 
however,  still  filled  with  the  old  invincible  spirit 
that  had  long  animated  them,  in  spite  of  their 
gaunt  and  ill-clad  condition,  and  the  now  dark 
prospect  of  their  lovingly  espoused  and  warmly 
cherished  cause.  Pitiful  is  it  to  read  of  Lee's 


226  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

appeals  to  Richmond  at  this  period  for  the  neces- 
saries of  life  for  his  troops,  for  the  requisites  of 
shelter  and  clothing,  in  an  inclement  season,  for  his 
men,  and  even  for  forage  for  his  horses — appeals 
that  were  indifferently  heeded  by  the  Commissary 
Department  at  the  Southern  capital,  and  as  in- 
differently doled  out.  Under  the  circumstances, 
need  surprise  be  felt  at  the  desertions  that  were 
now  prevalent  in  the  ranks,  and  that  conscription 
resulted  in  practically  no  additions  to  the  strength 
of  the  army  ;  while  the  proposition  was  now  rife 
to  arm  the  slaves,  though  to  do  so  and  bring 
them  to  the  front  would  be  but  to  add  more 
stomachs  to  be  filled  or  go  empty,  and,  if  the 
latter,  aggravate  rather  than  relieve  the  situa- 
tion at  Petersburg.  The  necessity  of  insisting 
upon  Lee's  remaining  where  he  was,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  Richmond  and  the  defense  of  its  key-po- 
sition, Petersburg,  seemed  cruel,  while  the  region 
was  so  little  able  to  feed  his  army,  and  when  there 
was  urgent  need  of  his  services  in  other  parts  of 
the  menaced  Confederacy,  where  he  might,  and 
doubtless  would,  have  turned  the  scale  in  the 
fortune  of  war  to  greater  advantage  to  himself 
and  the  common  cause.  Whoever  was  responsi- 
ble for  this  course  being  adhered  to,  the  blame  of 
it  does  not  attach  to  General  Lee,  though  he 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  "WINTER  OF  1864-5.      027 

loyally  did  what  he  could  where  he  was  kept ;  the 
blame  rather  attaches  to  the  Confederate  Ad- 
ministration,  among  whom,  as  we  know,  there 
was  not  over  much  harmony  at  its  council- 
board  and  not  a  little  want  of  acumen  in  failing 
to  see  what,  broadly  and  at  large,  was  for  the 
best  for  Southern  interests. 

At  this  juncture  of  affairs  in  the  South,  when 
Grant  had  refused  to  allow  any  more  exchanges 
of  prisoners,  and  President  Lincoln  had  issued  his 
call  for  300,000  additional  volunteers  with  which 
to  prosecute  the  war,  the  North  encouraged  the 
Hon.  Francis  P.  Blair,  of  Maryland,  to  open  nego- 
tiations for  a  conference  with  representatives 
of  the  Confederate  Government,  seeking  to  put 
an  end  to  hostilities.  The  conference,  it  was 
understood,  was  to  be  of  an  informal  character, 
and  with  the  single  view  of  discovering  whether 
it  was  possible  to  influence  the  South  to  listen  to 
overtures  of  peace.  A  meeting  took  place,  known 
as  the  Hampton  Roads  Peace  Conference,  three 
Southern  commissioners  (Messrs.  A.  H.  Stephens, 
J.  A.  Campbell,  and  R.  M.  T.  Hunter)  being  per- 
mitted to  pass  the  Federal  lines  early  in  Febru- 
ary, 1865,  and  proceed  to  Fortress  Monroe,  Va., 
where  a  confab  was  had  with  Secretary  of  State 
Seward,  and,  later,  with  President  Lincoln,  but 


228  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

which  ended  without  practical  results.  Though 
this  was  the  case,  it  is  worth  while  noting  the  sim- 
ple and  liberal  conditions  on  which  the  North  was 
prepared  to  make  peace  with  her  "  erring  sister" 
of  the  South.  These  were:  1,  "The  restoration 
of  the  national  authority  throughout  all  the 
States  ;  2,  No  receding  by  the  Executive  of  the 
United  States  on  the  slavery  question  from  the 
position  assumed  thereon  in  the  late  annual  Mes- 
sage to  Congress,  and  in  preceding  documents  ; 
and  3,  No  cessation  of  hostilities  short  of  an  end 
of  the  war  and  the  disbanding  of  all  forces  hostile 
to  the  Government." 

With  the  failure  of  this  conference  and  the 
continued  stress  of  a  forlorn  situation,  together 
with  the  inability  of  the  Confederate  Government 
and  Congress  to  do  anything  to  improve  the  out- 
look, or  even  provide  for  the  sustenance  of  the 
army  at  Petersburg,  Lee's  position  was  a  clouded 
and  hopeless  one,  though,  at  the  period,  as  it  was 
practically  admitted  by  all,  he  was  the  only 
general  left  in  the  field  in  whom  the  South  had 
still  confidence,  and  to  whom  it  might  yet  assur- 
ingly  look  to  accomplish  anything.  Now,  how- 
ever, it  was  manifestly  too  late  for  aught  to  be 
done  to  save  the  Confederacy,  even  though  our 
hero  was  at  this  juncture  given  the  titular  com- 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      229 

mand  of  all  its  armies.  To  give  Lee  now  the  rank 
of  lieuteiiaiit-general,  with  supreme  command 
over  all  the  Southern  armies  in  the  field,  indepen- 
dent of  the  control  of  President  Davis,  was  little 
else  than  a  farce,  since  the  Kichmond  Government 
could  not  relieve  or  replace  him  at  Petersburg ; 
and  neither  did  it,  or  could  it  now,  increase  or 
even  feed  his  forces  there,  so  that  he  might  con- 
tinue the  conflict  with  any  semblance  or  hope 
of  success.  Though  the  condition  of  affairs  was 
now  such — the  Confederacy  having  become  utter- 
ly shattered  and  incapable  of  further  effort — Lee 
accepted  the  proffered  honor,  and,  late  as  it  was, 
he  steeled  his  heart  anew  to  undertake  what  was 
possible  under  the  circumstances.  The  one  object, 
at  this  crisis,  he  had  in  view,  was,  if  practicable, 
to  effect  a  junction  with  the  command  of  his  old 
colleague,  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  who,  with  his 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  had  been  opposing,  though 
with  ill-success,  General  Sherman  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  whom  he  hoped  to  join  as  he  came  to- 
ward Virginia  with  his  still  considerable  force. 

The  doings  of  General  Johnston  from  the  period 
when  he  was  assigned  to  the  Department  of  the 
Southwest,  through  the  era  of  the  Federal  inva- 
sion of  Georgia  and  the  operations  in  the  Caro- 
linas,  do  not,  we  are  aware,  of  course,  belong  to 


230  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

the  story  we  are  here  dealing  with  in  connection 
with  General  Lee.  But  as  these  operations  form 
an  important  part  of  the  story  of  the  Civil  War, 
and  are  in  themselves  replete  with  interest,  we 
have  deemed  it  proper  to  give  some  brief  record 
of  them  in  these  pages,  so  far,  at  least,  as  they  are 
connected  with  the  movements  of  Johnston,  and 
his  successor  Hood,  in  attempting  to  oppose  those 
of  General  Sherman,  after  the  latter  had  launched 
his  attack  upon  Atlanta.  With  the  early  portions 
of  the  story  that  preceded  the  Atlanta  campaign 
we  have  already  dealt — with  that  part,  at  least, 
when,  after  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Chat- 
tanooga, and  fighting  the  battle  at  Lookout  Moun- 
tain, the  army  of  Bragg  was  routed,  and  its 
commander  was  replaced  by  General  J.  E.  John- 
ston. About  the  same  time,  Grant  was  given  com- 
mand of  all  the  armies  of  the  Union,  and  proceeded 
to  the  James  River,  to  take  charge  with  Meade  of 
the  operations  against  Lee  and  Beauregard  at 
Petersburg.  Some  few  months  later  (at  the  close 
of  June,  1864),  Johnston  gave  battle  to  Sherman 
and  his  lieutenants  Thomas,  Schofield,  and  Mc- 
Pherson  at  Kenesaw,  Ga.,  and  won  the  fight, 
inflicting  a  considerable  loss  upon  the  Federals. 
In  spite  of  this  success,  Johnston  retired  across 
the  Chattahoochee  Kiver  and  took  up  a  position 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      231 

southward,  at  Peach  Tree  Creek,  which  he  pro- 
ceeded to  entrench.  At  this  period,  the  Confed- 
erate Government,  being  dissatisfied  with  John- 
ston, removed  him  from  his  command  and  ap- 
pointed in  his  place  General  J.  B.  Hood,  who  had 
fought  under  Lee  at  Gettysburg  and  under  Bragg 
at  Chickamauga.  Abandoning  the  defensive  pol- 
icy of  his  predecessor,  Johnston,  Hood  fought 
a  desperate  engagement  with  Hooker,  but  was 
defeated  with  heavy  loss.  He  then  retired  within 
the  lines  of  Atlanta  City,  still  fighting  hard,  and 
attacking  whenever  he  could  the  veterans  of 
Sherman's  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  The  com- 
mander of  the  latter  (McPherson)  having  been 
killed,  General  Howard  took  his  place,  and  sought, 
with  the  assistance  of  Schofield  and  Thomas,  to 
break  through  the  investing  lines  of  Atlanta,  and 
at  the  same  time  cut  the  railroad  in  the  vicinity 
over  which  Hood  drew  his  supplies  for  the  city's 
garrison.  The  entrenchments  of  Atlanta,  the 
Federals  found,  however,  were  too  strong  for 
them  to  carry,  and  Hood,  elated  at  this,  made 
several  sallies  upon  the  enemy,  in  one  of  which, 
occurring  on  the  28th  of  July,  he  met  with 
disaster,  losing  over  4,600  men.  About  a  month 
later,  Sherman  made  a  movement  south  of 
Atlanta  to  Jonesboro,  held  by  the  Confederates, 


232  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

but  not  fortified,  his  design  being  not  only  to 
capture  the  place,  but  to  draw  Hood  from  his 
strongly  protected  works  at  Atlanta.  In  this, 
Sherman  was  successful,  for  it  enabled  him,  in 
Hood's  absence,  to  take  and  occupy  Atlanta  ; 
while  Hood,  with  his  40,000  of  an  army,  took 
up  temporary  quarters  at  Lovejoy's  Station,  on 
the  Savannah  railroad,  about  30  miles  southwest 
of  the  city. 

Hood's  evacuation  of  Atlanta,  though  it  gave 
his  opponent  possession  of  the  city,  yet  enabled 
him  sharply  to  harass  Sherman's  long-strung- 
out  line  of  communications,  reaching  from  At- 
lanta back  into  Tennessee.  To  protect  these,  the 
Federal  commander,  still  holding  on  to  Atlanta, 
sent  the  bulk  of  his  army  north-westward ;  but 
before  doing  so  he  cleared  the  city  of  its  inhabit- 
ants, sending  them  off  rather  ruthlessly,  as  he 
designed  to  make  of  Atlanta  a  military  post 
exclusively,  to  be  held  by  General  Thomas  and  his 
command.  This  act  naturally  aroused  loud  and 
angry  protests  from  the  city's  magistrates  and 
the  populace,  to  which,  however,  Sherman  was 
indifferent,  though  he  offered  to  make  exclusion 
from  the  city  as  little  irksome  to  its  people 
as  was  possible  under  the  circumstances.  In  his 
minct  at  this  period,  {Sherman,  was  engrossed 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      233 

with  his  contemplated  project  of  a  "  march  to 
the  sea,"  so  as  to  secure  a  strong  base  of  opera- 
tions in  the  east  before  setting  out  on  his  pro- 
jected invasion  of  and  lengthened  expeditionary 
raid  northward,  through  Georgia  and  the 
Carolinas,  back  to  Virginia,  there  to  reach  Grant 
before  Petersburg  and  fall  upon  Lee's  army  from 
the  rear.  The  accomplishment  of  this  design  of 
Sherman,  as  that  of  a  born  raider,  took  captive 
the  imagination  of  the  North ;  while  it  was 
rendered  comparatively  easy,  as  well  as  safe,  by 
the  paralysis  that  had  now  fallen  upon  the  South, 
which  made  the  march  through  the  region  an 
almost  wholly  unopposed  one.  The  paralysis 
throughout  the  Confederacy  was  increased  at 
this  period  not  only  by  the  breaking  up  of  the 
interior  lines  of  travel  and  communication  in 
the  South,  as  a  consequence  of  Federal  invasion, 
but  by  the  capture  of  Mobile  by  Farragut, 
followed  by  that  of  Fort  Fisher,  and  by  the  cap- 
ture or  destruction  of  the  Confederate  cruisers 
and  blockade-runners  at  sea,  which,  with  the 
depletion  of  the  Richmond  treasury,  lopped  off 
all  supplies  from  abroad,  and  put  an  end  to  hope 
of  interposition  by  the  neutral  Powers  of  Europe. 
In  such  a  conjunction  of  events  adverse  to  the 
South,  with  the  terrible  drain  upon  her  resources 


234  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

of  men  and  material  occasioned  by  the  long  and 
devastating  war,  Sherman's  gay  but  ruthless 
"march  to  the  sea,"  and  back  through  the  once 
rich  and  populous  States  of  the  now  exhausted 
Confederacy,  was,  as  we  have  said,  a  naturally 
unopposed  one,  while  it  led  to  further  prostra- 
tion and  despondency  throughout  the  South. 
The  record  of  the  incidents  in  the  bold  expedition 
of  Sherman  to  found  a  strong  base  by  the 
Atlantic,  in  addition  to  the  possession  and  occupa- 
tion of  Atlanta,  need  not  long  detain  us.  Leav- 
ing General  Thomas,  with  a  force  of  27,000, 
behind  to  defend  Atlanta  and  keep  watch  upon 
General  Hood,  Sherman  set  out  with  TO,  000  men 
in  the  middle  of  November  and  reached  and 
occupied  Savannah  before  Christmas  (1864) 
Thomas,  meanwhile,  continued  at  Atlanta 
inactive  till  he  should  be  strengthened  by  the 
arrival  of  an  expected  force  under  General  James 
H.  Wilson,  which,  when  received,  raised  his  total 
command  to  55,000  ;  while  Hood  at  this  time  had 
but  40,000,  all  told,  to  pit  against  Thomas, 
exclusive  of  a  small  contingent  of  Georgia 
militia.  It  was  now  Hood's  intention  to  move 
to  the  rear  of  Atlanta,  and  there  to  tear  up  the 
railway  tracks  between  the  latter  city  and  the 
QhattahoQchee,  and  afterwards  to  move  upon 


THE  AUTUMN  AND  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      235 

Bridgeport  and  destroy  the  great  bridge  which 
spans  the  Tennessee  River  at  that  point.  Hood's 
purpose  in  this  was  to  isolate  Atlanta  from 
Chattanooga  and  Nashville,  and  thus  make  the 
place  a  barren  conquest  to  Thomas,  and  his  chief, 
Sherman,  as  a  base  of  supply  and  of  future 
operation.  The  details  of  this  design  of  Hood  are 
interestingly  given  by  William  Jowett  Tenney, 
in  his  '*  Military  and  Naval  History  of  the  Rebel- 
lion "  (New  York,  1866). 

"  A  week  sufficed  to  complete  General  Hood's 
arrangements,"  writes  Mr.  Tenney,  "  and  by  the 
2nd  of  October  his  army  was  across  the  Chatta- 
hoochee  and  on  the  march  to  Dallas,  where  the 
different  corps  were  directed  to  concentrate.  At 
this  point  he  was  enabled  to  threaten  Rome  and 
Kingston,  as  well  as  the  fortified  places  on  the 
railroad  to  Chattanooga  ;  and  there  remained 
open,  in  case  of  defeat,  a  line  of  retreat  south- 
west into  Alabama.  From  Dallas  he  advanced 
east  toward  the  railroad,  and  on  the  4th  captured 
the  insignificant  stations  of  Big  Shanty  and  Ack- 
worth,  effecting  a  thorough  destruction  of  the 
road  between  the  two  places.  He  also  sent  a 
division  under  General  French  to  capture  the 
Federal  post  at  Allatoona  Pass,  where  he  had 
ascertained  that  a  million  and  a  half  of  rations 


236  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

for  the  Federal  army  were  stored,  on  which  he 
probably  depended  to  replenish  his  commissariat." 

Upon  learning  that  Hood  had  crossed  the  Chat- 
tahoochee,  Sherman,  resumes  Mr.  Tenney,  "des- 
patched General  Corse  with  reinforcements  to 
Rome,  which  place  he  supposed  the  enemy  were 
aiming  at.  During  the  previous  week  he  had 
sent  General  Thomas  with  troops  to  Nashville  to 
look  after  Forrest.  His  bridges  having  mean- 
while been  carried  away  by  a  freshet  which  filled 
the  Chattahoochee,  he  was  unable  to  move  his 
main  body  until  the  4th,  when  three  pontoons 
were  laid  down,  over  which  the  armies  of  the 
Cumberland,  the  Tennessee,  and  the  Ohio  crossed, 
and  took  up  their  march  in  the  direction  of  Mari- 
etta, with  fifteen  days'  rations.  The  20th  corps, 
General  Slocum,  was  left  to  garrison  Atlanta." 

Rome,  as  it  turned  out,  however,  was  not  the 
objective  point,  which  Hood,  or  rather  the  Con- 
federate column  of  General  French,  was  aiming 
at,  but  Allatoona  ;  and  here  French  appeared  on 
the  5th  of  October  and  summoned  the  Federal 
commander  (General  Corse)  to  surrender.  This 
was  at  once  refused,  for  General  Sherman,  when 
the  action  began,  having  reached  the  summit 
of  Kenesaw  Mountain  from  there  signalled  his 
subordinate  to  "hold  out  to  the  last,"  and,  that 


THE  AUTUMN  ANl/THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.      237 

he  might  do  so,  he  promised  to  send  him  succor. 
Thus  assured,  the  Federal  defender  of  the  town  re- 
pulsed the  Confederate  attack,  though  a  vigorous 
cannonade  wrecked  much  of  the  city  and  killed  a 
large  number  of  Federal  artillery  and  cavalry 
horses,  besides  destroying  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  railway  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
The  Confederates  finally  withdrew,  though  not 
before  they  had  lost  close  upon  800  men  in  the 
attack,  including  prisoners  captured  by  the  enemy. 
After  this,  Hood's  command  retreated  in  the  di- 
rection of  Dalton,  Ga.,  and  on  the  way  northward 
continued  the  destruction  of  the  railroad,  and 
generally  devastating  the  region.  By  the  14th  of 
the  month,  Hood  reached  Dalton,  but,  finding 
Sherman  close  upon  his  heels,  he  withdrew  to 
Lafayette,  thence  southwesterly  into  Alabama, 
in  which  State  he  halted  at  Gadsden,  on  the 
Coosa  river,  where  he  met  reinforcements  under 
General  Beauregard,  who  by  this  time  had  been 
appointed  to  the  chief  command  of  the  Confederate 
Military  Division  of  the  West.  From  Gadsden, 
the  Confederate  double  command  continued  the 
retreat  as  far  as  Warrington,  on  the  Tennessee 
River,  General  Sherman  pursuing  the  Confed- 
erate columns  as  far  as  Gaylesville,  where  the 
Federal  commander  halted.  Whatever  might 


238  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

have  been  the  result  of  Hood's  movement,  Mr. 
Tenney  concludes  by  affirming  that  "  it  entirely 
failed  to  interrupt  the  Federal  communications 
to  a  degree  that  would  compel  the  evacuation  of 
Atlanta.  .  .  In  the  light  of  subsequent  events," 
the  historian-critic  adds,  "  it  would  now  appear 
that  General  Sherman,  making  only  a  show  of 
following  his  adversary,  deliberately  lured  him 
into  Northern  Alabama,  for  the  purpose  of  pursu- 
ing an  interrupted  march  with  his  own  army 
through  the  heart  of  Georgia.  The  ill-advised 
plan  of  General  Hood  had  given  him  the  very 
opportunity  which  he  desired,  and  he  prepared  at 
once  to  avail  himself  of  it." 


CHAPTER  XVL 

OPERATIONS    IN     GEORGIA,    TENNESSEE,    AND     THE 
CAROLINAS  IN  THE  WINTER  OP  1864-65. 

AFTER  the  flight  and  repulse  of  the  Confeder- 
ates at  Allatoona,  we  have  seen  that,  menaced 
by  Sherman's  pursuing  army,  Hood  withdrew 
his  command  first  into  Northern  Alabama,  and 
after  a  junction  with  a  small  force  under  Beau- 
regard  crossed  into  Tennessee.  The  area  of  ef- 
fective fighting  left  to  the  Confederacy  was  now 
fast  narrowing ;  while  the  operations  of  Sherman, 
Thomas,  and  other  Federal  commanders  in  the 
Southern  tier  of  states  from  the  Gulf  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi northward  and  eastward  also  narrowed 
the  area  of  support,  in  men  and  supplies,  to  what 
remained  of  the  Southern  fighting  force  in 
Virginia,  in  the  region  of  the  James.  Not  a 
little  of  the  result  of  this  was  due  to  the  success 
of  Sherman  in  capturing  Atlanta  and  undertak- 
ing his  renowned  "march  to  the  sea."  Other 

disasters  were  yet  to  befall  the  South,  in  Tennes- 

239 


240  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

see,  in  Schofield's  defeat  of  Hood  at-Franklin,  and 
the  wiping  out  of  his  command  by  Thomas  at 
Nashville  ;  in  North  Carolina,  in  the  repulse  of 
Hardee's  corps  of  Johnston's  command  by  Sher- 
man at  Averysboro ;  in  the  fall  of  Fort  Fisher 
and  the  capture  and  occupation  of  Wilmington  ; 
and  in  the  victory  of  Sherman  over  Johnston  at 
Bentonville  ;  besides  the  burning,  in  South  Caro- 
lina, of  Columbia,  and  the  enforced  evacuation  of 
Charleston.  Of  these  disasters,  we  shall  give  a 
brief  running  account,  to  enable  the  reader  to  fol- 
low the  military  history  of  the  closing  months  of 
the  Confederacy,  and  so  prepare  him  for  the  col- 
lapse of  the  Southern  cause  in  Lee's  defeat  by 
Sheridan  at  Five  Forks,  Va.,  his  retreat  from 
Petersburg,  and  the  final  end  of  the  Civil  War  in 
the  surrender  at  Appomattox. 

After  the  occupation  of  Atlanta  and  the  fight 
at  Allatoona,  when  Sherman  saw  that  the  Con- 
federate cause  in  Georgia  and  the  South  was  an 
empty  shell,  that  General  began  to  realize  that 
his  purpose  of  founding  a  Federal  base  of  sup- 
plies and  action  on  the  seaboard  at  Savannah  was 
a  safe  and  practical  one,  he  at  once  prepared  to 
set  forth  on  his  now  historic  "inarch  to  the  sea," 
having  previously  gained  General  Grant's  con- 
Bent  to  the  undertaking  of  the  project.  Divest- 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.         241 

ing  himself,  in  the  middle  of  November  (1864),  of 
all  military  impediments,  and  disencumbering 
his  command  of  all  sick,  disabled,  and  weak  men, 
as  well  as  of  all  hangers-on  and  stragglers,  Sher- 
man set  forth  on  his  expedition  with  an  army  of 
60,000  efficient  and  intelligent  men,  his  objective 
point  being  the  port  of  Savannah,  Georgia.  At 
the  outset,  the  gallant  leader  had  not  intimated 
to  his  army  the  object  of  their  march,  the  General 
Orders  simply  and  curtly  stating  to  his  command 
that  "it  is  sufficient  for  you  to  know  that  it  in- 
volves a  departure  from  our  present  base  (Atlanta,) 
and  a  long,  difficult  march  to  a  new  one."  As  the 
army  was  expected  to  live  on  the  country  they  were 
to  pass  through,  the  force  was  to  be  burdened  by  no 
supply-train,  each  brigade  furnishing  its  own  com- 
pany to  procure  forage  and  supplies  for  the  gen- 
eral need.  The  men  were  cautioned  against  en- 
tering private  dwellings  or  committing  trespass  ; 
while  no  property  was  to  be  destroyed  or  people 
by  the  way  molested,  where  the  troops  were  not 
interfered  with  on  the  march.  The  only  encum- 
brances permitted  were  the  necessary  ammuni- 
tion wagons  and  ambulances,  and  one  wagon 
for  food  and  fodder  for  each  regiment.  The 
separate  columns  were  to  begin  their  march  each 
day  at  seven  o'clock,  after  breakfast,  and  were 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

expected  to  make  fifteen  miles  progress  each  day. 
Only  the  railroads  were  to  be  destroyed  by  the 
way,  such  at  least  as  were  used  for  transporting 
men  and  supplies  to  the  various  sections  of  the 
Southern  army  in  the  North.  In  the  march, 
which  occupied  twenty-seven  days  to  reach  Sav- 
annah, no  serious  opposition  was  encountered, 
though  many  attempts  were  made  to  harass  the 
command  and  impede  its  progress.  Supplies 
along  the  line  of  march  were  abundant,  so 
that  the  army  reached  the  coast  with  its  men  and 
horses  in  the  best  possible  condition.  Besides 
General  Sherman  in  the  chief  command,  there 
were  with  him,  in  charge  of  the  two  wings  of  the 
army,  Generals  Howard  and  Slocum,  the  former 
commanding  the  right  wing,  composed  of  the 
15th  and  17th  corps,  and  the  latter  the  left  wing, 
consisting  of  the  14th  and  20th  corps  ;  while 
General  Kilpatrick  was  in  command  of  the 
cavalry.  As  the  expedition  came  to  Milledge- 
ville,  where  the  Georgia  legislature  was  then  in 
session,  that  body  passed  an  Act  to  levy  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  state  en  masse;  this,  however, 
had  no  effect  on  the  fear-stricken  people  of  the 
town,  who  fled  from  it,  with  the  governor,  state 
officers,  and  city  magistrates,  on  the  entrance 
into  it  of  the  Union  general,  his  aides,  and  body- 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.        243 

guard,  to  take  up  their  night's  quarters  in  the 
executive  mansion. 

With  the  exception  of  some  brushes  with  the 
Georgia  State  troops  on  the  way,  and  occa- 
sional rearguard  fights  between  Kilpatrick's  and 
Wheeler's  cavalry  commands,  no  other  impeding 
incidents  occurred  until  the  expedition  reached 
the  Ogeechee  River,  which  was  stormed  and 
speedily  taken  by  Hazen's  division,  and  communi- 
cation was  at  once  opened  with  the  Union  Admi- 
ral (Dahlgren)  and  General  Foster,  in  command 
at  Port  Royal.  By  the  17th  of  December,  the 
force  reached  the  defenses  of  Savannah,  when 
Sherman  summoned  the  Confederate  commander, 
Gen.  Hardee,  to  surrender.  The  response  was 
the  flight,  on  the  night  of  the  20th,  of  the  entire 
Confederate  garrison  of  the  city,  when  the  gallant 
raider  and  his  elated  command  entered  it  to  en- 
joy a  well-earned  rest.  Two  days  later,  General 
Sherman  telegraphed  President  Lincoln  at  Wash- 
ington :  "  I  beg  to  present  you,  as  a  Christmas 
gift,  the  city  of  Savannah,  with  150  heavy  guns 
and  abundance  of  ammunition,  together  with 
about  25,000  bales  of  cotton  ! " 

Resting  at  Savannah  for  over  a  month,  the 
January  rains  preventing  his  moving  from  the 
place  earlier,  Sherman  set  out  on  February  1st  on 


244:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE, 

his  northward  march  with  his  army.  The  return 
march,  which  was  a  more  arduous  one  than  that 
of  the  advance  to  the  coast,  owing  to  the  swampy 
condition  of  the  country  after  the  season's  heavy 
rains,  took  Sherman  designedly  by  way  of  the 
Carolinas,  so  that  he  might  more  effectively 
menace  General  Lee's  communications  with  the  re- 
gion. With  his  columns  headed  in  the  direction  of 
Columbia,  S.C.,  Sherman,  on  the  iTth  of  February, 
entered  that  capital  of  the  State  without  opposition, 
its  small  cavalry  garrison  having  abandoned  the 
place  on  the  approach  of  the  Federal  troops.  Before 
withdrawing,  the  Confederates  had  massed  the 
city's  treasure  of  cotton  and  set  fire  to  it,  the  blazing 
pile,  fanned  by  a  prevailing  high  wind,  doing  much 
damage  to  the  city,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Federals  to  quench  the  fire  and  save  public  prop- 
erty. When  the  troops  succeeded  in  suppressing 
the  flames,  the  onward  march  was  resumed,  but 
not  before  the  city's  arsenals  and  railway  plant 
were,  by  Sherman's  orders,  destroyed,  though  all 
"harmless  private  property  "was  respected  and 
saved  from  destruction.  The  menace  of  Sher- 
man's presence  in  the  State  had  its  effect  at  this 
period  upon  the  seaport  of  Charleston,  and  led 
to  its  evacuation  by  the  Confederates,  after  a 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.        245 

lengthened  siege  and  heavy  bombardment  by  the 
Federals. 

For  a  time  after  the  march  north-eastward  was 
resumed,  no  opposition  was  met  with,  for  Beau- 
regard's  cavalry  command,  then  in  the  State,  had 
withdrawn  to  Charlotte,  N.  C.  ;  while  the  new 
force,  under  J.  E.  Johnston  (who  had  been  reap- 
pointed  to  command  in  the  region),  had  not  yet 
been  reached.  Sherman's  course  now  lay  in  the 
direction  of  Fayetteville,  whence  it  was  his  design 
to  make  for  the  important  railroad  center  of  Golds- 
boro,  N.  C.,  due  north  from  Wilmington.  At 
Fayetteville,  his  force  was  joined  by  10,000  men 
of  Thomas's  army  under  Schofield,  who  had  just 
taken  Wilmington,  following  up  Terry's  capture 
of  Fort  Fisher  (Jan.  13,  1865),  which  cost  the 
South  a  loss  of  2,500  men  in  the  attack  on  and 
storming  of  the  citadel.  On  the  way  to  Golds- 
boro,  the  Federal  raiding  columns  had  some 
sharp  fighting  with  Hardee's  division  of  Confed- 
erate cavalry,  which  attempted  to  check  Sher- 
man's advance,  aided  by  a  force  of  10,000  infan- 
try ;  while  Johnston's  army  (now  about  40,000 
strong),  was  within  comparative  reach  in  the 
vicinity  of  Bentonsville. 

On  the  loth  of  March,  Hardee  gave  Sherman 
battle  at  Averysboro,  N.  C.,  on  Cape  Fear  river, 


246  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

forty  miles  south  of  Raleigh.  Here  Hardee  had 
entrenched  his  command,  to  oppose  Sherman  and 
to  allow  Johnston  time  to  concentrate  his  forces, 
which  he  was  then  doing  at  Smithfield,  so  as  to 
make  an  obstinate  stand  against  the  advancing 
column  of  Federal  raiders.  The  affair  at  Averys- 
boro  lasted  all  day,  and  was  a  sanguinary  one 
(Sherman  losing  600  in  killed  and  wounded)  ;  and 
at  nightfall — the  Confederates  withdrew  behind 
their  interior  lines  of  defense.  In  the  morning, 
the  Federals  found  that  the  enemy  had  silently 
retired  from  the  place,  and  had  fallen  back  to 
Smithfield,  all  save  a  few  men,  who  became  Sher- 
man's prisoners.  The  expedition  then  pursued 
its  way  towards  Goldsboro :  but  at  Bentonville, 
within  seventeen  miles  from  that  center,  the  left 
wing  of  the  army,  under  General  Slocum,  en- 
countered Johnston's  command  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th,  Johnston  here  being  tempted  to  attack 
a  portion  of  the  advance  expeditionary  force  before 
the  bulk  of  it  reached  the  spot.  Slocum,  taken  by 
surprise,  at  first  fell  back  ;  but,  rallying,  he  made 
a  stout  stand  and  sheltered  his  force  behind  hastily 
thrown  up  rifle-pits,  Kilpatrick's  cavalry  enabling 
him  effectively  to  do  so.  As  Johnston  failed  to  dis- 
lodge the  Federals  from  their  defensive  line,  and, 
fearing  the  approach  of  Sherman's  other  columns, 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  WINTER  OF  1864-5.         247 

he,  too,  began  to  fortify  his  position,  mean  time  mak- 
ing several  forceful  attacks  upon  the  foe.  On  the 
morning  of  the  21st,  Sherman's  right  wing  came 
upon  the  scene,  and  the  day  was  spent  in  pressing 
Johnston  hard  on  three  sides  of  his  position  and 
close  up  to  his  works.  As  the  day's  fighting  had 
cost  him  heavy  losses,  Johnston  deemed  it  more 
tactical  to  retreat  from  the  place,  which  he 
did  over  night,  withdrawing  to  Smithfield  and 
Raleigh.  The  Confederate  losses  at  Bentonsville 
were  heavy,  amounting  to  close  upon  2,000  in 
killed  and  wounded,  besides  670  taken  prisoners. 
The  Federal  loss  was  upward  of  1,650,  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing.  Early  on  the  22nd  inst., 
Sherman's  columns  moved  on  to  Goldsboro,  whith- 
er Schofield's  command  had  preceded  them  from 
Fayetteville,  and  after  that  general  had  occupied 
Wilmington  (Feb.  22),  and  fought  the  battle  of 
Kinston,  N.  C.  (March  8-10).  Here,  at  Goldsboro, 
practically  ended  Sherman's  great  march,  though 
we  find  him  later  (April  13)  at  Raleigh,  and  to- 
wards the  end  of  that  month,  after  Lee's  surrender 
at  Appomattox,  it  was  Sherman  who  received  the 
surrender  of  General  J.  E.  Johnston's  army,  on 
the  terms  accorded  to  Lee  by  General  Grant.  A 
month  later,  Sherman  reached  Washington, 
where  he  was  received  with  great  tclat,  and  where, 


248  L!FE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

after  a  grand  review  of  his  army,  the  latter  was 
disbanded  ;  while  he  himself  was  given  command 
of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
subsequently  that  of  Missouri,  with  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-general. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CLOSE  OP  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE. 

THE  South  at  this  juncture  of  affairs  was  now 
in  extremis ;  her  chief  seaports,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  either  captured  or  closely  blockaded,  and 
her  cotton,  the  chief  commodity  of  exchange  with 
Europe,  could  get  no  outlet ;  while  her  financial 
credit  was  gone,  Confederate  paper  money  at  the 
period  being  so  valueless  that  it  took  $500  to  pur- 
chase a  pair  of  army  boots.  Nor  was  the  situation 
in  Virginia  any  less  hopeless,  for  Lee  could  get  no 
substantial  addition  to  his  now  dwindled  com- 
mand, or  food  or  pay  for  his  men ;  while  after 
Johnston's  defeat  at  Bentonville,  Sherman  was 
in  the  main  free  to  menace  Lee's  army  from  the 
South.  Emancipation  for  the  slave,  moreover, 
had  so  altered  the  condition  of  labor  in  the  South 
that  this  became  extremely  irksome  to  the  planter  ; 
while  the  recruiting  of  the  negro,  and  his  enrol- 
ment in  Northern  regiments,  added  to  the  despond- 
ency, and  even  despair,  now  manifesting  itself 
throughout  the  Confederacy.  The  sole  reliance 

249  ' 


250  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

at  this  crisis  was  still  in  General  Lee  and  his 
veterans  on  the  James,  and  what  he  was  able  to 
do — little  as  it  could  possibly  be — he,  we  may  be 
certain,  would  surely  accomplish.  Certain  it  is, 
that  our  hero  was  the  one  public  man  whom 
the  South  unqualifiedly  believed  in  and  trusted  ; 
whose  abilities,  of  a  rare  and  uncommon  order, 
everywhere  elicited  the  highest  commendation  ; 
whose  integrity  was  unimpeachable ;  and  who, 
moreover, — despite  the  pall  of  darkness  that  now 
hung  over  the  country — continued  ever  hopeful 
and  buoyant,  as  well  as  devotedly  loyal,  and 
sincerely  desirous  of  helping  to  a  favorable  issue 
the  cause  which  every  leal  Southerner  had  in  his 
inmost  heart. 

How  earnestly  Lee  strove  at  this  time  to  dispel 
despondency  and  check  desertions  from  the  ranks, 
as  well  as  to  give  tone  to  public  sentiment  favor- 
able to  the  Southern  cause,  may  be  seen  from  the 
appended  letter  which  the  General,  towards  the 
close  of  February  (1865),  addressed  to  Governor 
Vance  of  North  Carolina.  The  period  is  that 
when  Sherman  was  conducting  his  spirited  raid 
through  the  Carolinas,  and  this  was  evidently  in 
Lee's  mind  when  he  wrote,  as  perhaps  the  chief 
inciting  cause  of  the  prevailing  despondency. 
Here  is  the  letter : 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.    251 

"The  state  of  despondency  that  now  prevails 
among  our  people  is  producing  a  bad  effect  upon 
the  troops.  Desertions  are  becoming  very  fre- 
quent, and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that 
they  are  occasioned,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by 
letters  written  to  the  soldiers  by  their  friends  at 
home.  .  .  I  think  some  good  can  be  accomplished 
by  the  efforts  of  influential  citizens  to  change 
public  sentiment,  and  cheer  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  It  has  been  discovered  that  despondent 
persons  represent  to  their  friends  in  the  army 
that  our  cause  is  hopeless,  and  that  they  had 
better  provide  for  themselves.  They  state  that 
the  number  of  deserters  is  so  large  in  the  several 
counties  that  there  is  no  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from  the  home-guard.  The  deserters 
generally  take  their  arms  with  them  :  the  greater 
number  are  from  regiments  from  the  western 
part  of  the  State.  So  far  as  the  despondency  of 
the  people  occasions  this  sad  condition  of  affairs, 
I  know  of  no  other  means  of  removing  it  than  by 
the  counsel  and  exhortation  of  prominent  citizens. 
If  they  would  explain  to  the  people  that  the  cause 
is  not  hopeless,  that  the  situation  of  affairs,  though 
critical,  is  so  to  the  enemy  as  well  as  ourselves, 
that  he  has  drawn  his  troops  from  every  other 
quarter  to  accomplish  his  designs  against  Rich- 


252 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 


mond,  and  that  his  defeat  now  would  result  in 
leaving  nearly  our  whole  territory  open  to  us  ; 
that  this  great  result  can  be  accomplished  if  all 
will  work  diligently,  and  that  his  successes  are  far 
less  valuable  in  fact  than  in  appearance, — I  think 
our  sorely  tried  people  would  be  induced  to  make 
one  more  effort  to  bear  their  sufferings  a  little 
longer,  and  regain  some  of  the  spirit  that  marked 
the  first  two  years  of  the  war."  , 

Alas  !  this  hopeful,  inspiriting,  and  eminently 
patriotic  letter  was  a  fruitless  one,  as  the  South- 
ern cause  was  now  fast  becoming  "a  lost  cause," 
which  the  events  of  the  following  four  or  five 
weeks  were  emphatically  to  prove.  Yet,  mani- 
festly, it  might  have  been  otherwise,  had  all  in 
the  Confederacy  been  as  earnest  and  strenuous 
in  the  purpose  to  make  it  a  successful,  rather 
than  a  lost,  cause,  as  was  Kobert  E.  Lee  ;  and 
had  the  Fates  been  less  adverse  in  environing 
him  and  his  veterans  on  the  James,  as  they  were 
environed,  not  only  by  the  numerically  superior 
forces  of  Grant,  but  by  the  returning  to  the 
latter's  command  of  Sheridan  and  his  most  efficient 
cavalry  force,  and  by  the  approaching  from  the 
south  of  Sherman's  army,  flush  with  victory,  and 
strong  in  the  success  that  had  attended  his 
march  through  the  heart  of  the  Confederacy. 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.         353 

In  spite  of  the  menacing  aspect  of  affairs,  Lee, 
nevertheless,  was  full  of  the  hope  of  yet  bright- 
ening the  situation  for  his  section  of  the  country, 
by,  if  possible,  effecting  a  union  with  General 
J.E.  Johnston's  command  in  North  Carolina,  and 
there  falling  upon  Sherman  and  his  army  on 
their  way  North — thus  abandoning  Petersburg 
and  Richmond,  while  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment, as  Lee  desired,  was  to  remove  from  the 
Virginia  capital  to  Danville,  on  the  southern 
frontier  of  the  State,  and  there  reestablish  itself 
and  the  Confederate  Administration.  To  the 
achieving  of  the  purpose  which  lay  deep  in  the 
heart  and  mind  of  the  heroic  leader,  Heaven,  we 
shall  presently  see,  was  not  propitious  ;  though 
what  was  possible  for  Lee  to  do,  in  at  least  stav- 
ing off  for  a  while  the  end,  which  was  soon  now 
to  come,  he  bravely  and  untiringly  sought  to 
accomplish. 

Meanwhile,  Lee's  great  adversary,  Grant,  was 
alert  in  his  attitude  towards  the  critical  South- 
ern situation — one  which,  he  tells  us  in  his 
*l  Personal  Memoirs,"  was  the  most  anxious 
period  of  his  experience  during  the  Rebellion — 
as  he  saw  that  it  would  result  in  Lee's  retire- 
ment from  Petersburg,  and  the  abandonment 
of  Richmond,  both  of  which  he  properly  under- 


254  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

took  to  prevent,  or  tactically  to  checkmate. 
With  the  approach  of  Spring  (1865),  and  the 
drying  up  of  the  roads  along  the  thirty  odd  miles 
of  the  offensive  and  defensive  lines  about  Peters- 
burg, each  of  the  respective  generals  in  chief  com- 
mand was  preparing  for  decisive  action,  an  account 
of  which  it  now  becomes  our  duty  to  relate. 

On  the  Southern  side,  the  month  of  March, 
which  had  by  this  time  come,  brought  matters 
to  a  crisis  in  evolving  plans  for  the  evacuation 
of  Petersburg  and  its  defenses  by  Lee,  and  the 
withdrawal  of  the  remains  of  his  army  (now  only 
about  30,000  in  number)  to  the  mountain  regions 
of  the  South.  Here,  as  we  have  already  men- 
tioned, he  hoped  to  effect  a  junction  with  Johns- 
ton, and  thus  put  himself  in  a  better  position  to 
cope  with  Grant  and  the  converging  columns 
under  Sherman,  whose  combined  strength,  at 
this  time,  would  be  more  than  230,000  effective 
men.  Before  setting  out  from  Petersburg,  Lee, 
however,  projected  an  assault  on  Grant's  center 
line,  at  a  vulnerable  position  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Appomattox,  protected  by  the  Federal  Fort 
Stedman.  The  assault  was  made  by  the  Second 
Confederate  corps,  under  General  Gordon, 
supported,  or  intended  to  be  supported,  by  a 
part  of  Longstreet's  division  and  other  contin- 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.         255 

gents  of  the  "rebel"  army.  The  attack  began 
at  dawn  on  the  25th  of  March,  and  when 
Gordon's  storming  party  issued  forth  it  rapidly 
crossed  the  Federal  entrenchments  and  captured 
the  Fort.  Here,  however,  it  was  exposed  to  a 
heavy  Federal  fire  from  the  forts  on  either  side 
of  it,  which  the  attacking  force  was  unable  to 
silence ;  nor  was  it  able  to  take  them,  owing  to 
the  tardy  coming  up  of  the  supports,  which  were 
designed  not  only  to  reenforce  the  storming  party, 
but  to  move  on  and  take  a  strong  position  held 
by  the  enemy  on  the  heights  in  rear  of  Fort  Sted- 
rnan.  The  tardiness  in  the  arrival  of  the  sup- 
ports proved  fatal  to  the  whole  movement,  as 
advantage  was  instantly  taken  of  the  pause  that 
ensued  upon  the  seizure  of  and  flight  of  the 
Federals  from  the  Fort  to  pour  a  deadly  fire  from 
the  ridge-crest  in  rear  upon  Gordon's  assaulting 
column.  Demoralization  in  the  latter  was  the 
result,  followed  by  a  stampede  of  all  the  Con- 
federates in  the  Fort  and  its  immediate  vicinity  ; 
while  the  Federals,  having  now  recovered  from 
their  surprise  at  the  unexpected  seizure  and 
occupation  of  the  Fort,  came  back  in  force  and 
retook  the  citadel,  capturing  about  2,000  of  the 
assaulting  columns.  Besides  the  captured,  the 
Confederates  lost  in  the  attack  nearly  1,000  iu 


256  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

killed  and  wounded  ;  while  the  Federal  loss  all 
told,  was  close  upon  2,000.  A  further  Con- 
federate loss,  before  the  day's  operations  were 
over,  was  a  portion  of  Lee's  defense  line  nearest 
to  the  enemy.  This,  in  the  confusion  that 
followed  the  repulse  from  Fort  Stedman,  had 
been  snatched  from  the  "  rebel "  pickets,  though 
only  after  a  stubborn  resistance.  The  counter- 
attack and  advance  of  the  Federal  lines  was 
done  at  the  bidding,  and  with  the  oversight,  of 
General  Meade. 

Anticipating  that  the  Confederates,  after  the 
failure  of  the  assault  on  Fort  Stedman,  would 
abandon  their  lines  at  Petersburg  and  retire 
from  the  place,  Grant  took  the  precaution  to 
instruct  his  several  cavalry  commands  to  care- 
fully guard  all  roads  by  which  Lee  might  seek  to 
withdraw  his  army ;  while  he  was  himself  in- 
creasingly watchful  of  every  movement,  or  sign 
of  movement,  along  the  enemy's  far-extended 
lines.  Beyond  this,  Grant  had  formed  designs 
against  the  Confederate  right,  and  that  by  a 
massed  movement  to  his  own  left  in  great  force. 
In  this  he  was  aided  by  Sheridan,  with  his  cavalry 
division,  after  that  skilled  raider's  destroying 
march  through  Central  Virginia,  and  who,  with 
his  command,  had  returned  to  duty  at  Petersburg, 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.         257 

or  rather,  near  by,  at  Dinwiddie  Court-House. 
The  Federal  assault  was  arranged  for  the  29th 
of  March,  when  General  Ord  (Butler's  successor), 
who  had  previously  been  sent  out,  with  three 
divisions  of  infantry  and  McKenzie's  cavalry,  to 
the  extreme  left  of  Grant's  line,  was  to  cooperate 
with  Generals  Warren  and  Humphreys,  with  the 
Second  and  Fifth  Union  corps,  in  an  advance,  by 
way  of  Hatcher's  Run,  upon  Five  Forks.  Here 
they  were  instructed  to  seize  the  South  Side  rail- 
road, over  which  Lee  received  his  army's  meager 
supplies,  and  also  fall  upon  the  Danville  railroad. 
At  Five  Forks,  Sheridan  was  simultaneously  to 
arrive  and  there  take  part  in  falling  upon  the 
Confederate  right. 

While  these  designs  were  being  carried  out 
against  Lee's  right  flank,  General  Wright's 
corps  was  to  make  a  concerted  assault  upon  the 
weakened  Confederate  center.  Much  of  the  entire 
movement  was,  however,  delayed  for  several  days 
by  heavy  rains  and  the  consequently  bad  state  of 
the  roads,  over  which  it  was  found  extremely  dif- 
ficult to  move  the  Federal  artillery  ;  it  was  also 
harassed  by  constant  conflicts  with  the  watchful 
Confederate  cavalry.  Especially  did  Sheridan 
suffer  from  the  latter,  as  well  as  from  the  attacks 
of  the  "rebel"  unmounted  men,  by  whom,  in 


258  L11^  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

fact,  he  was  driven  from  Five  Forks  back  to  Din- 
widdie,  where  he  called  upon  Grant  to  send  him 
assistance.  The  Federal  leader  met  his  request 
by  despatching  Warren  and  his  command  to  him, 
but  the  latter  was  so  dilatory  in  his  movements 
that  he  was  relieved  of  his  command  of  the  Fifth 
corps,  and  its  control  was  given  to  Griffin.  With 
Griffin's  assistance,  Sheridan  now  renewed  his 
assault  upon  the  Confederates,  chiefly  under 
Pickett  and  Bushrod  Johnson,  at  Five  Forks, 
where,  on  April  1st,  Pickett  was  outflanked  and 
beaten  by  Sheridan.  The  situation  was  now  a 
forlorn  one  for  Lee,  who,  nevertheless,  stoutly 
braced  himself  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  of  the 
position,  as  well  as  to  enhearten  his  troops,  already 
wearied  with  the  burden  of  guarding  a  defense 
line  thirty  miles  in  length,  and  that,  for  the  most 
part,  on  ill-filled  stomachs  and  amid  every  discom- 
fort from  the  raw,  wet  weather. 

When  the  assault  on  the  Confederate  center  (in 
front  of  Petersburg)  was  developed,  the  position 
of  things  became  desperate,  for  that  portion  of 
Lee's  attenuated  line  had  been  greatly  weakened 
to  protect  his  menaced  right  flank,  which,  by  this 
time,  "  had  been  torn  from  its  position  and  hurled 
back."  An  all-night  bombardment  of  the  South- 
ern entrenchments  and  the  city  of  Petersburg 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.         259 

found  the  Confederates,  on  the  morning  of  April 
2nd,  in  little  condition  further  to  hold  its  posi- 
tion, far  less  to  meet,  with  accustomed  "  rebel  " 
bravery  and  vigor,  the  general  assault  which  was 
now  about  to  be  made.  Nevertheless,  as  is  stated 
in  an  authority  (that  of  J.  D.  McCabe,  in  his 
"  Life  and  campaigns  of  Robert  E.  Lee  "),  "  Gen- 
eral Lee  was  resolved  to  make  one  more  effort  to 
save  the  city." 

From  the  source  just  named,  we  extract  an 
interesting  account  of  the  battle  that  ensued. 
"Sunday,  the  2nd  of  April,  dawned  bright  and 
clear.  With  the  first  light  of  morning  the  Fed- 
eral columns  of  attack  advanced  upon  the  South- 
ern works,  and  the  engagement  quickly  spread 
along  the  whole  line  from  the  Appomattox  to 
Hatcher's  Run.  The  left  of  the  Southern  posi- 
tion rested  on  the  Appomattox,  and  was  held  by 
General  Gordon's  corps.  This  weak  force  was  at- 
tacked by  the  9th  Federal  corps,  under  General 
Parke,  and  after  a  brief  but  gallant  struggle  the 
Confederates  gave  way,  and  the  enemy  carried 
the  outer  line.  Gordon's  troops  fell  back  to  an 
inner  cordon  of  works  just  on  the  city  limits, 
where  they  were  quickly  in  line  again.  The  9th 
corps,  pressing  on,  attempted  to  carry  these  works 
also,  but  was  repulsed  in  all  its  efforts. 


260  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

"To  the  right  of  Gordon,  A.  P.  Hill's  com- 
mand  was  in  position,  and  against  this  part  of  the 
Southern  line  the  6th  Federal  corps  was  thrown 
in  an  impetuous  charge.  Hill's  left  was  the 
weakest  part  of  the  whole  position,  as  the  in- 
fantry for  its  defense  (McGowan's  brigade)  had 
been  withdrawn  on  the  previous  day,  and  the 
works  were  held  only  by  the  artillerists,  with  a 
slim  picket  line  in  front.  The  6th  corps  drove  in 
the  pickets,  and,  sweeping  forward,  captured  the 
works,  the  batteries,  and  artillerymen. 

"The  movements  of  the  9th  and  6th  corps  were 
simultaneous,  and  the  success  of  the  latter  threat- 
ened the  Confederate  army  with  the  most  serious 
disaster.  Wright's  corps  had  completely  broken 
the  left  of  Hill's  line,  and  threatened  to  push  right 
through  to  the  river,  and  cut  the  Southern  force 
in  two.  The  danger  was  increased  by  the  attack 
of  the  corps,  which,  as  soon  as  the  6th  had  carried 
Hill's  works,  stormed  the  redoubts  on  Hatcher's 
Eun,  and  drove  the  small  force  of  Confederates 
holding  them  beyond  Sutherland's  Station,  on 
the  South  Side  railroad.  Then,  uniting  with 
the  6th  and  24th  corps,  it  completed  the  Federal 
line,  which,  swinging  round,  steadily  closed  in 
upon  Petersburg. 

"  Fortunately,  there  were  just  in  rear  of  the 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.        261 

redoubts  captured  by  the  6th  corps  two  strong 
enclosed  works,  covering  the  ground  over  which 
the  enemy  must  advance  to  reach  the  river. 
These  works  were  held  by  only  a  handful  of  men. 
Fort  Alexander  was  nearer  the  enemy,  and  was 
garrisoned  by  a  less  devoted  force  than  the  other. 
As  soon  as  the  Federals  had  re-formed  their  line, 
they  made  a  heavy  charge  forward,  and  carried 
the  works  with  a  rush,  not,  however,  without  a 
spirited  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  defenders. 

"  There  remained  now  only  the  other  work — 
Fort  Gregg — and  this  it  was  necessary  to  hold  to 
the  last  extremity,  in  order  that  General  Lee 
might  have  time  to  occupy  his  new  position 
around  the  city.  If  the  fort  fell  before  that  was 
accomplished,  the  army  was  lost.  The  garrison 
of  Fort  Gregg  consisted  of  the  4th  Maryland 
battery,  with  two  3- inch  rifles  and  thirty  men,  a 
body  of  dismounted  artillery  drivers — Virginians 
and  Louisianians — who  had  been  armed  with 
muskets,  part  of  Harris's  Mississippi  brigade,  and 
some  North  Carolinians — in  all  250  men  ;  the 
whole  being  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Chew  of  the  Maryland  battery.  The  critical 
situation  of  the  army  was  known  to  this  little 
band  of  heroes,  and  they  silently  resolved  to  pur- 
chase the  safety  of  their  comrades  with  their  lives. 


202  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

"As  soon  as  Fort  Alexander  was  captured, 
General  Ord  advanced  Gibbon's  division  to  storm 
and  carry  Fort  Gregg,  and  break  through  to  the 
city.  Gibbon's  column  approached  in  fine  order, 
and  by  its  strength  alone  seemed  about  to  envelop 
the  work.  Moving  on  rapidly  it  neared  the  fort, 
the  Confederates  suffering  it  to  come  within 
less  than  fifty  yards.  Then,  by  a  well-directed 
volley,  they  sent  the  enemy  reeling  back  across 
the  ground  they  had  passed  over.  The  whole 
affair  could  be  directly  seen  by  both  armies,  and 
the  repulse  of  the  Federals  was  greeted  by  loud 
cheers  from  the  Confederates  in  the  inner  line. 
Still  no  aid  could  be  sent  to  the  brave  garrison, 
whose  only  hope  was  to  die  in  the  presence  of 
the  comrades  they  were  trying  to  save.  Both 
armies  ceased  firing  at  other  points  and  every  eye 
was  fixed  on  the  fight  at  Fort  Gregg. 

"Rallying  his  forces,  Gibbon  made  another 
desperate  attempt  to  carry  the  fort,  but  was 
again  repulsed.  A  third  charge  met  with  the 
same  fate,  and  for  a  while  there  sprang  up  in  the 
hearts  of  the  gazers  at  the  city  a  wild  hope  that 
the  fort  would  be  held  in  spite  of  the  heavy  odds 
against  it.  Vain  hope !  At  seven  o'clock  the 
Federals  made  a  last  charge,  and  this  time  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  ditch.  Many  clambered  to 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.         263 

the  top  of  the  works,  but  were  beaten  back  by  the 
clubbed  muskets  of  the  defenders,  while  the  guns 
were  fired  rapidly  through  the  embrasures.  The 
pressure  in  front  was  too  strong  to  be  resisted, 
and  the  enemy  swarmed  into  the  works,  crushing 
the  garrison  by  their  weight.  The  fort  was  taken, 
but  the  heroic  defenders  had  reason  to  be  proud  of 
its  defense.  Out  of  the  250  men  present  when  the 
action  began,  but  30  survived.  There  were  none 
missing  ;  the  dead  and  wounded  made  up  the  dire 
list.  They  had  inflicted  a  loss  of  between  500  and 
600  men  upon  their  captors,  or  two  Federals  for 
each  one  of  the  250  Confederates.  Nor  was  the 
sacrifice  vain.  Fort  Gregg  was  taken  at  a  little 
after  seven  in  the  morning,  and  the  two  hours 
gained  by  its  defense  enabled  General  Lee  to 
bring  up  his  troops  and  occupy  his  last  line  around 
Petersburg. 

"  The  enemy  did  not  resume  their  advance  im- 
mediately, but  spent  the  next  two  hours  in  oc- 
cupying the  entire  country  towards  the  Appo- 
mattox,  throwing  their  cavalry  out  on  their  left 
to  the  South  Side  railroad  and  the  river  above 
the  city. 

"Towards  ten  o'clock,  General  Lee  received  a 
small  reinforcement.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the 
2nd,  General  Longstreet  had  discovered  the  weak- 


264.  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

ness  of  the  Federals  in  his  front,  and  had  marched 
promptly  with  Benning's  brigade  of  Field's  divi- 
sion, less  than  300  strong.  He  reached  the  battle- 
field just  as  the  enemy — a  few  minutes  before  ten 
o'clock — moved  forward  again  to  force  an  entrance 
to  the  city.  Longstreet  instantly  brought  Ben- 
ning's brigade  into  action,  and  by  his  bold  and 
skillful  handling  of  it  checked  the  enemy's  ad- 
vance until  General  Lee  could  hurry  troops 
to  its  assistance,  when  the  line  was  occupied  and 
firmly  held. 

"  The  Confederates  now  occupied  a  short,  but 
very  strong  line,  extending  immediately  around 
Petersburg,  with  the  right  flank  resting  on  the 
river  above,  and  the  left  on  the  same  stream  be- 
low the  city.  Against  this  line  the  enemy  now 
made  repeated  assaults,  but  they  were  met  and 
repulsed  at  every  point.  Not  only  were  the  Fed- 
erals everywhere  thrown  back  in  their  efforts  to 
advance,  but  Heth's  division,  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  General  A.  P.  Hill,  was  ordered  to 
recover  some  commanding  ground  held  by  the 
9th  Federal  corps  on  the  Southern  left,  near  the 
river.  Hill  made  his  attack  with  great  spirit,  and 
pressed  the  9th  corps  so  hard  with  his  little  com- 
mand, that  the  Federals  were  forced  to  bring  up 
the  garrison  of  the  works  at  City  Point  to  aid 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  LONG  STRUGGLE.    265 

them  ill  maintaining  their  ground.  The  enemy 
held  their  position,  and  the  Southern  troops  were 
Withdrawn.  Among  the  killed  was  Lieut. -General 
A.  P.  Hill.  He  had  passed  with  high  honor 
through  the  whole  war  up  to  this  period,  with  but 
a  slight  wound,  and  fell  now  a  victim  to  the 
chivalrous  daring  for  which  he  was  always  dis- 
tinguished. 

"  Thus  the  day  closed,  with  the  Confederates  in 
possession  of  Petersburg.  But  it  was  far  from 
General  Lee's  intention  to  attempt  to  hold  the 
city  longer.  Such  a  course  would  involve  the 
capture  or  destruction  of  his  army,  and  all  that 
remained  to  him  now  was  to  abandon  both  Eich- 
mond  and  Petersburg,  and  endeavor  to  join  John- 
ston near  Danville.  It  was  no  longer  possible  to  re- 
treat by  the  south  bank  of  the  Appomattox,  for  all 
the  roads  were  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  and 
now  the  march  must  be  made  by  the  longer 
route  north  of  the  river." 


THE  RETIREMENT  FROM  PETERSBURG  AND  RICH- 
MOND. 

BY  this  time,  when  the  outer  works  of  Peters- 
burg were  in  possession  of  the  Federal  forces,  and 
Grant  was  preparing  for  the  morrow's  work  of 
continuing  the  assault  on  the  city,  Lee  had  com- 
municated the  condition  of  affairs,  and  his  inten- 
tion to  retire  from  his  lines,  to  President  Davis  at 
Richmond,  suggesting  that  the  capital  should  be 
immediately  evacuated  and  the  seat  of  Govern- 
ment transferred  to  Danville.  Though  it  would 
have  been  fatuous,  after  the  abandonment  of 
Petersburg,  to  maintain  Confederate  control  and 
authority  at  Kichmond,  the  announcement  of 
withdrawal  from  it  came  as  a  crushing  blow  to 
its  citizens,  since  it  meant  abandoning  the  city  to 
Northern  occupation,  and  possible  destruction  or 
pillage.  What  it  immediately  meant,  they  soon 
saw  with  their  own  eyes,  viz.,  the  blowing  up  of 
the  city's  great  warehouses,  full  of  cotton  and 

tobacco,  to  prevent  them  becoming  the  spoil  of 

263 


RETREAT  FROM  PETERSBURG  AND  RICHMOND.   267 

the  enemy ;  besides  the  destruction  of  the  Con- 
federate iron-clads  on  the  James  River  and  other 
Government  property  and  stores  within  the  city's 
precincts  ;  the  withdrawal  of  General  Ewell's  de- 
fensive command  of  4,000  troops,  and  the  certain 
moving  in  of  the  Federal  general,  Weitzel,  and 
his  besieging  cohorts,  as  soon  as  Ewell  and  the 
Administration  moved  out.  The  crisis  ere  long 
came,  with  the  conflagration  of  the  tobacco  ware- 
houses, which,  unhappily,  extended  to  many 
valuable  portions  of  Eichmond,  and  the  abandon- 
ing of  the  city  to  loot  by  the  worthless  scum  of 
the  population.  "  Thus  fell  the  capital  of  the 
Confederacy,"  observes  the  historian  from  whom 
we  have  already  quoted,  "  that  for  four  years  had 
withstood  all  the  efforts  of  the  enemy.  It  went 
down  in  a  sea  of  suffering  and  sorrow  such  as 
it  had  never  known  before."  It  remains  only  to 
add,  that  Richmond,  on  the  morning  of  the  3rd 
(April,  1865),  was  surrendered  by  its  mayor  to  the 
Federal  commander,  General  Weitzel,  who  took 
immediate  possession,  and  humanely  ordered  his 
troops  to  arrest  the  conflagration  and  restore 
order,  while  he  sought  to  relieve  distress  among 
the  more  necessitous  of  the  citizens. 

At  Petersburg,  when  Grant  became  aware  of 
Lee's  retreat  from  the  place  and  the  route  he  had 


268  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

chosen  to  take  in  withdrawing  in  the  direction  of 
Amelia  Court  House,  he  pushed  forward  the 
mass  of  his  army  (about  75,000)  in  pursuit.  The 
pursuing  force,  headed  by  Sheridan's  cavalry,  and 
followed  by  the  Union  infantry  and  artillery,  was 
directed  to  march  with  all  speed  to  the  line  of  the 
Richmond  and  Danville  R.  R.,  north  of  Burkes- 
ville,  there,  if  possible,  to  intercept  Lee  and  his 
fugitive  army.  Already,  other  points  of  possible 
escape  had  been  closed  to  Lee,  and  this  he,  of 
course,  knew ;  but  he  thought  that,  by  rapid 
marching,  he  could  reach  Amelia  Court  House, 
and  from  there  strike  south  to  Danville,  and,  if 
practicable,  effect  his  long-planned  junction  with 
General  J.  E.  Johnston.  One  object,  and  an  im- 
perative one,  that  now  took  him  to  Amelia  Court 
House,  was  to  procure  food  for  his  half-famished 
men,  for  they  had  eaten  nothing  since  the  retreat 
began,  save  some  handf  uls  of  parched  corn.  Here 
the  thoughtful  leader  had  instructed  the  Confed- 
erate commissary-general  to  forward  a  provision- 
train,  for  the  exigencies  of  the  calculated  day  of 
arrival ;  but,  to  the  indignation  of  General  Lee 
and  the  dismay  of  the  troops,  it  was  found  that 
the  train  with  the  supplies  had  gone  on  to  Rich- 
mond, without  stopping  to  unload  the  provisions 
at  the  Court  House,  so  that  it  might  assist  in 


RETREAT  FROM  PETERSBURG  AND  RICHMOND.   269 

removing  the  Government  property  from  the  old 
to  the  new,  temporary  capital  at  Danville.  The 
mishap  was  a  terrible,  as  it  was  an  irremediable, 
one,  for  little  local  food  could  be  had  ;  and  such 
as  could  be  gathered  over  a  wide  area  occasioned 
an  enforced  delay,  which  proved,  in  part,  fatal  to 
the  retreating  Confederates. 

But,  to  return  for  a  brief  moment  to  events  at 
Petersburg,  let  us  relate  that,  on  the  morning  of 
the  3rd  of  April,  when  Grant  had  been  apprised 
of  the  Confederate  abandonment  of  the  place  and 
had  set  his  army  in  motion  to  pursue  them,  he 
ordered  General  Humphreys,  with  the  Second 
Union  corps  and  a  pontoon  train,  and  General  Ord, 
with  the  Sixth  and  Ninth  corps,  to  renew  the 
attack  on  the  city.  At  this  juncture,  the  Federal 
skirmishers  reported  that  the  Confederate  lines 
were  deserted,  and  a  column  being  sent  forward, 
and  meeting  with  no  opposition,  it  advanced  to 
Petersburg  and  took  possession  of  it.  Leaving  a 
garrison  in  occupancy,  Grant  now  turned  to  join 
his  army  in  its  pursuit  of  Lee,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  reached  Amelia  Court  House,  though 
with  his  forces  considerably  scattered  in  search 
of  food  and  forage.  Just  before  this,  the  re- 
treating Confederates  had  been  joined  by  the 
division  of  General  Mahone  and  the  troops  that 


270  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

had  held  the  line  south  of  the  James,  in  front  of 
Bermuda  Hundreds,  as  well  as  by  Swell's  com- 
mand, that  had  been  withdrawn  from  the  lines 
about  Eichmond.  The  addition  of  these,  with 
their  several  baggage  transports  and  artillery, 
increased  the  unwieldiness  of  the  mass  in  retreat, 
as  well  as  made  it  more  difficult  to  provide  for  the 
men  and  horses  that  had  to  be  fed  and  cared  for 
on  the  way.  Nor  was  this  all  that  Lee  at  this 
juncture  had  to  contend  with,  for  by  this  time 
(the  evening  of  the  5th  of  April),  when  the  march 
from  Amelia  Court  House  was  resumed,  the  en- 
emy's cavalry  hung  closely  about  his  wearied 
columns  and  had  to  be  constantly  fought  off  ; 
while  many  of  the  impeding  wagons  had  to  be 
burned  en  route,  and  many  heavy  guns  buried, 
which  could  not  be  borne  along,  so  exhausted  were 
the  horses  and  mules  attached  to  them.  As  a 
narrator  (Francis  Lawley)  of  the  harrowing  inci- 
dent of  the  retreat  describes  : 

"It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  locomotion  of  an 
army  in  such  a  plight  must  have  been  slow  and 
slower.  The  retreat  was  conducted  in  the  follow- 
ing fashion  :  About  midnight  the  Confederates 
slipped  out  of  their  hasty  works,  which  they  had 
thrown  up  and  held  during  the  previous  day,  and 
fell  back  until  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  the  next 


RETREAT  FROM  PETERSBURG  AND  RICHMOND.   271 

morning.  Then  they  halted,  and  immediately 
threw  up  earthworks  for  their  protection  during 
the  day.  It  was  not  long  before  the  wolves  were 
again  on  their  heels,  and  from  their  earthworks 
the  Confederates  exchanged  a  heavy  fire  with 
their  pursuers  throughout  the  day.  Delayed  by 
the  necessity  of  guarding  a  train  from  thirty-five 
to  forty  miles  in  length,  enfeebled  by  hunger 
and  sleeplessness,  the  retreating  army  was  able  to 
make  only  ten  miles  each  night.  This  delay  en- 
abled the  active  Sheridan  to  get  ahead  with  his 
cavalry,  and  to  destroy  the  provisions  along  the 
railroad  between  Burkesville  and  Danville.  Up- 
on the  5th,  many  of  the  mules  and  horses  ceased 
to  struggle,  when  it  became  necessary  to  burn 
hundreds  of  wagons.  Towards  evening  of  the 
5th,  and  all  day  long  upon  the  6th,  hundreds  of 
men  dropped  from  exhaustion,  and  thousands  let 
fall  their  muskets  from  inability  to  carry  them  any 
farther.  The  scenes  of  the  5th,  6th,  7th,  and  8th, 
were  of  a  nature  which  can  be  apprehended  in  its 
vivid  reality  only  by  men  who  are  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar with  the  harrowing  details  of  war.  Behind, 
and  on  either  flank,  were  ubiquitous  and  increas- 
ingly adventurous  troops — every  mud-hole  and 
rise  in  the  road  choked  with  blazing  wagons — 
the  air  filled  with  the  deafening  reports  of  am- 


272  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

munition  exploding,  and  shells  bursting  when 
touched  by  the  flames — dense  columns  of  smoke 
/'ascending  to  heaven  from  the  burning  and  explod- 
ing vehicles — exhausted  men,  worn-out  mules  and 
horses,  lying  down  side  by  side — gaunt  famine 
glaring  hopelessly  from  sunken,  lack-luster  eyes — 
dead  men,  dead  horses,  dead  mules,  everywhere — 
death,  many  times  welcomed  as  God's  blessing  in 
disguise, — who  can  wonder  if  many  hearts,  tried 
in  the  fiery  furnace  of  four  years'  unparalleled 
suffering,  and  never  hitherto  found  wanting, 
should  have  quailed  in  presence  of  starvation 
fatigue,  sleeplessness,  misery — unintermitted  for 
five  or  six  days,  and  culminating  in  hopeless- 
ness ? " 

This  narrative  of  the  retreat  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  is  a  painfully  realistic,  but  not 
overdrawn,  one  ;  and,  in  proof  of  that,  we  need 
but  mention  the  fact  of  the  dwindling  numbers 
of  Lee's  forces,  as  well  as  the  perils  by  the  way, 
in  its  withdrawal  from  the  late  scenes  of  its  opera- 
tions. On  the  morning  of  the  6th,  Meade  having 
joined  Sheridan  at  Jetersville,  they  together 
moved  upon  Amelia  Court  House,  with  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  Lee  battle.  The  latter,  however, 
having  been  brought  news  of  the  enemy's  design, 
branched  off  toward  Farmville,  by  way  of  Dea- 


RETREAT  FROM  PETERSBURG  AND  RICHMOND.  273 

tonsville,  and  for  the  time  gave  them  the  slip. 
When  this  happened,  Grant  instructed  General 
Ord  to  take  the  direct  road  to  Farmville,  and  there 
block  Lee's  onward  path  ;  while  Sheridan  swiftly 
pursued  the  Confederate  columns  on  the  road  they 
had  taken,  and  came  upon  them  at  Sailor's  Creek, 
a  minor  tributary  of  the  Appomattox.  On  the 
way  after  the  fugitives,  the  Federal  general  made 
repeated  onslaughts  upon  their  columns,  but  was 
constantly  beaten  off.  Presently,  however,  he 
found  a  weak  spot  in  the  retreating  line,  in 
Pickett's  command,  which  was  guarding  a  por- 
tion of  Lee's  long  train  ;  and  on  this  Sheridan  fell 
with  three  of  his  divisions,  and  captured  a  number 
of  the  Confederates,  besides  taking  from  them 
sixteen  pieces  of  artillery  and  destroying  400 
wagons. 

In  his  dire  extremity,  and  to  enable  him  to 
save  the  remainder  of  the  column  attacked, 
Pickett  summoned  General  Ewell  to  his  assist- 
ance, who  at  once  came  upon  the  scene  with  re- 
enforcements  to  the  number  of  4, 200  men.  While 
Ewell  was  coming  up,  it  was  unfortunately  found 
that  the  rearguard,  consisting  of  General  Gordon's 
corps,  had  branched  off  another  road,  so  as  to 
evade  trouble  from  Sheridan's  attacks  ;  and  this 
escape  of  Gordon  lessened  the  chances  of  the  com- 


274  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

bined  forces  of  Pickett  and  Ewell  withstanding 
Sheridan  successfully.  It  was  also  found  that, 
while  Ewell  was  preparing  for  what  he  saw  must 
be  a  stiff  fight,  the  enemy  had  occupied  the  high 
ground  about  him  and  cut  him  off  from  the  re- 
mainder of  the  retreating  columns.  The  situa- 
tion of  the  command  was,  hence,  a  desperate  one, 
but,  despite  the  fact,  Ewell  resolved  to  give 
battle,  and  sell  his  own  and  his  men's  lives  dearly. 
Meanwhile,  heavy  reinforcements  came  forward 
for  Sheridan,  and  in  the  conflict  that  ensued 
Pickett's  division  was  worsted  and  put  to  flight, 
leaving  Ewell  and  his  veterans  to  cope  alone  with 
the  enemy.  This  they  gallantly  did,  and  for  a 
time  so  successfully,  that  the  6th  Unionist  corps 
was  driven  back  before  the  sharp  Confederate  fire. 
The  broken  Federal  line  was  presently,  however, 
rallied  and  re-formed,  when  it  renewed  the  attack, 
and  now  with  such  effect  that  Ewell's  men  were 
surrounded  by  overpowering  numbers  and  com- 
pelled to  throw  down  their  arms  and  surrender. 
When  this  disaster  overtook  Ewell,  he  had  himself 
no  other  recourse  than  to  submit  to  be  made  a 
prisoner  with  his  command ;  while  three  other 
general  officers,  including  Custis  Lee,  at  the  same 
time  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
With  the  dispersion  of  Pickett's  division,  and 


RETREAT  FROM  PETERSBURG  AND  RICHMOND.  275 

the  capture  or  breaking  up  also  of  the  commands 
under  Anderson  and  Bushrod  Johnson,  Lee'p 
army,  when  it  reached  Farmville,  was  reduced  tc 
10,000  men,  less  than  a  fifth  of  the  strength  of 
the  pursuing  Federals.  At  Farmville,  the  little 
band,  however,  was  enabled  to  get  food  ;  and, 
when  it  had  driven  off  General  Ord's  command, 
here  engaged  in  destroying  the  bridges,  it  passed 
on  a  few  miles,  and  on  the  night  of  the  6th  of 
April  crossed  the  Appomattox  at  High  Bridge, 
where  it  bivouacked  ;  while  Lee  summoned  Long- 
street,  Gordon,  Pendleton,  and  other  of  his  chief 
officers  to  a  camp-fire  council  to  consider  the 
situation. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

GRANT'S  PEACE-OVERTURES  TO  LEE,  AND  TELE  SUR- 
RENDER AT  APPOMATTOX. 

THE  end  of  strife,  obviously  now,  drew  very 
near ;  and  Lee,  though  he  did  not  shirk  further 
fighting,  in  the  cause  he  had  so  long,  earnestly, 
and  bravely  borne  a  conspicuous  part,  naturally 
wished  now  to  steal  off  from  his  environing  foes 
and  reach  Appomattox  Court  House.  There  he 
expected  to  obtain  supplies  to  enable  him  to  push 
on  with  his  little  shrunken  but  faithful  band  to 
the  Staunton  River,  and  at  that  point  "maintain 
himself  behind  the  stream  until  a  junction  could 
be  made  with  Johnston."  On  the  afternoon  of 
April  8,  he,  however,  learned  that  the  supplies  at 
the  Court  House  had  been  captured,  and  that 
the  enemy  were  in  strong  force  about  the  place. 
This  was  disconcerting  news  to  Lee ;  but  it  did 
not  cause  him  to  hesitate  in  his  course,  which  was 
to  divest  himself  of  all  impedimenta  and  cut  his 
way  through  the  Federal  lines,  and  so  escape 

276 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  277 

from  the  entanglement  he  and  his  loyal  followers 
found  themselves  in. 

The  idea  of  surrender,  which  had  been  favored 
at  the  camp-fire  council  with  his  general  officers, 
was  naturally  repugnant  to  Lee  ;  and,  while  a 
chance  of  escape  remained,  equally  opposed  was 
he  to  the  notion  of  disbandment,  which  would 
expose  his  men  to  almost  certain  capture,  as  well 
as  disappointment  and  misery  in  their  search  for 
food.  The  responsibility  of  continuing  actively 
in  the  field  was,  of  course,  acutely  felt  by  the 
gallant  leader  ;  and  he  keenly  sympathized  with 
the  discomforts  and  sufferings  of  his  troops, 
though  he  would  not,  as  yet,  bring  himself  to 
resort  to  or  justify  surrender,  with  honor.  To 
accept  the  latter,  when  it  was  proposed  by  his 
corps-commanders  in  council,  instantly  aroused 
the  martial  spirit  of  the  heroic  general,  and 
elicited  the  retort  :  "Surrender!  I  have  too  many 
good  fighting  men  for  that."  At  this  crisis,  his 
anxieties  were  great,  but  chiefly  for  the  leal  and 
true  men  under  him,  as  well  as  for  the  women 
and  children  of  the  South,  of  whose  fate,  in  the 
emergencies  of  the  time  and  their  issues,  he  had 
constant  and  patriotic  thought.  Fits  of  sadness 
could  not  fail  to  come  upon  him,  just  then,  as  we 
see  in  his  remark,  when  evidently  thinking  of 


278  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

exposing  himself  as  a  soldier  to  death  on  the  field 
of  battle.  "  How  easily  I  could  get  rid  of  this," 
he  said,  "and  be  at  rest:  I  have  only  to  ride 
along  the  line  and  all  will  be  over.  But  it  is  our 
duty  to  live  !  " 

On  the  morning  of  April  7th,  the  Confederates 
resumed  their  march  from  High  Bridge,  where 
we  had  left  them  in  bivouac,  towards  Farmville, 
with  the  design  of  reaching  Appomattox  Court 
House  ;  thence,  if  practicable,  to  push  on  to  Lynch- 
burg.  On  withdrawing  from  High  Bridge,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  fire  the  bridges  at  the  place, 
so  as  to  impede  the  enemy's  crossing  in  pursuit. 
In  this,  however,  the  Confederates  were,  in  part, 
thwarted  by  the  coming  up  of  the  Second  Federal 
corps.  The  latter  dashed  forward  and  saved  the 
bridges  from  entire  destruction,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  fell  upon  the  "  rebel "  rearguard  and  the 
remains  of  its  wagon  train,  which  were  speedily 
taken  ;  though  General  Gordon  here  turned  upon 
the  enemy  and  drove  them  off,  capturing  about 
200  prisoners.  For  the  remainder  of  the  day,  the 
retreat  was  unmolested,  save  for  periodic  dashes 
of  the  Federal  cavalry  ;  and  late  in  the  afternoon 
brought  Lee's  wearied  command  to  a  strong  de- 
fensive position  north  of  Farmville,  covering  the 
main  road  to  Lynchburg.  Here  a  halt  was  or- 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  279 

dered  for  a  brief  rest,  and  to  hold  the  pursuing 
enemy  in  check  until  night- fall,  when  the  retreat 
was  intended  to  be  resumed. 

While  in  bivouac  here,  General  Humphrey's 
command  came  up  to  attack  the  position,  but  find- 
ing it  too  strong  to  be  carried  by  a  direct  assault 
he  sought  to  carry  it  by  an  attack  on  the  flanks. 
This  movement  enabled  Humphreys  to  discover 
that  he  had  the  whole  of  Lee's  army  here  en- 
sconced, and  while  sending  back  for  reenforce- 
ments  he  contented  himself  by  an  attempt  on  the 
Southern  left.  In  this,  however,  he  was  repulsed 
with  a  heavy  loss.  As  night  had  now  come  on, 
the  forced  Federal  fighting  was  discontinued, 
while  the  Confederates  got  ready  to  continue  the 
retreat.  Before  setting  out,  the  leader  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  received  from  Gen- 
eral Grant  the  first  of  his  overtures  for  peace,  in 
a  despatch  (dated  April  7,  1865),  which  read 
thus: 

"  GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE  : 

"  The  result  of  the  last  week  must  convince  you 
of  the  hopelessness  of  further  resistance  on  the 
part  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  this 
struggle.  I  feel  that  it  is  so,  and  regard  it  as  my 
duty  to  shift  from  myself  the  responsibility  of  any 


280  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

further  effusion  of  blood  by  asking  of  you  the  sur- 
render of  that  portion  of  the  Confederate  States 
army  known  as  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 
U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieut. -General." 

General  Lee  at  once  replied  to  this  Federal 
missive  as  follows : 

April  Y,  1865. 
"  GENERAL : 

"  I  have  your  note  of  this  date.  Though  not 
entertaining  the  opinion  you  express  on  the  hope- 
lessness of  further  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  I  reciprocate  your 
desire  to  avoid  useless  effusion  of  blood,  and 
therefore,  before  considering  your  proposition, 
ask  the  terms  you  will  offer  on  condition  of  its 

surrender. 

"  B.  E.  LEE,  General. 

"  LIEUT.  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT." 

When  the  latter  communication  reached  Grant's 
hands,  the  night  had  been  far  spent,  while  the 
Confederates  were  well  on  their  way  to  Appomat- 
tox  Court  House,  heading  for  Lynchburg.  On 
the  morning  of  the  8th  (April),  General  Grant  at 
once,  however,  replied  to  it,  and  in  the  following 
terms  ; 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  281 

April  8,  1865. 
"  GENERAL  : 

"  Your  note  of  last  evening,  in  reply  to  mine  of 
the  same  date,  asking  the  condition  on  which  I 
will  accept  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  is  just  received.  In  reply,  I  would  say 
that  peace  being  my  great  desire,  there  is  but  one 
condition  I  would  insist  upon,  namely  :  that  the 
men  and  officers  surrendered  shall  be  disqualified 
for  taking  up  arms  again  against  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  until  properly  ex- 
changed. I  will  meet  you,  or  will  designate  offi- 
cers to  meet  any  officers  you  may  name  for  the 
same  purpose,  at  any  point  agreeable  to  you,  for 
the  purpose  of  arranging  definitely  the  terms  upon 
which  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  will  be  received. 

U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieut. -General. 

"  GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE." 

To  this,  General  Lee  made  the  following  re- 
sponse : 

April  8, 1865. 
"  GENERAL  : 

"  I  received,  at  a  late  hour,  your  note  of  to-day. 
In  mine  of  yesterday,  I  did  not  intend  to  propose 
the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 


282  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

but  to  ask  the  terms  of  your  proposition.  To  be 
frank,  I  do  not  think  the  emergency  has  arisen  to 
call  for  the  surrender  of  this  army ;  but,  as  the 
restoration  of  peace  should  be  the  sole  object  of 
all,  I  desired  to  know  whether  your  proposals 
would  lead  to  that  end.  I  cannot,  therefore, 
meet  you  with  a  view  to  surrender  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  ;  but,  as  far  as  your  proposal 
may  affect  the  Confederate  forces  under  my  com- 
mand, and  tend  to  the  restoration  of  peace,  I 
should  be  pleased  to  meet  you  at  ten  A.M.  to  mor- 
row, on  the  old  stage-road  to  Eichmond,  between 
the  picket  lines  of  the  two  armies. 

"  K.  E.  LEE,  General. 

"  LlEUT.-GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT." 

On  the  following  day,  General  Grant  sent  the 
Confederate  leader  the  subjoined  reply  : 

APRIL  9,  1865. 
"  GENERAL  : 

"  Your  note  of  yesterday  is  received.  I  have 
no  authority  to  treat  on  the  subject  of  peace  ;  the 
meeting  proposed  for  10  A.  M.  to-day  could  lead 
to  no  good.  I  will  state,  however,  General,  that 
I  am  equally  anxious  for  peace  with  yourself,  and 
the  whole  North  entertains  the  same  feeling.  The 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  283 

terms  upon  which  peace  can  be  had  are  well  under- 
stood. By  the  South  laying  down  their  arms 
they  will  hasten  that  most  desirable  event,  save 
thousands  of  human  lives,  and  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  property  not  yet  destroyed.  Seriously 
hoping  that  all  our  difficulties  may  be  settled 
without  the  loss  of  another  life,  I  subscribe  my- 
self, etc., 

"U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieut. -General. 

11  GENERAL  R.  E.  LEE." 

While  this  correspondence  was  passing  between 
the  two  leaders  of  the  respective  armies,  the  re- 
treating Confederates  had  reached  Appomattox 
Court  House,  within  twenty-five  miles  of  Lynch- 
burg,  which  they  had  gained  by  the  evening  of 
April  8.  All  day,  fugitives  and  pursuers  had 
hardly  exchanged  shots  ;  though  as  the  "  rebel " 
vanguard  neared  a  narrow  strip  of  land  between 
the  Appomattox  and  the  James  rivers,  the  sound 
of  heavy  firing  was  borne  down  from  the  front, 
and  the  conclusion  was  instantly,  and  correctly, 
reached  that  the  further  advance  of  the  Confed- 
erate columns  was  cut  off.  The  firing,  as  it 
quickly  transpired,  came  from  Sheridan's  com- 
mand, which,  after  a  rapid  circuitous  march, 
had  reached  the  vanguard  of  the  retreating  force, 


284  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

and  was  then  engaged  in  capturing  a  train  or  two 
of  cars,  filled  with  food  and  supplies  for  Confede- 
rate consumption  from  Lynchburg.  With  the 
great  raider's  cavalry  force  had  also  come  up 
General  Ord's  infantry  division,  and  both  barred 
the  further  advance  of  Lee's  wearied  and  now 
feeble  army,  and  what  remained  of  the  Confede- 
rate wagon  transport. 

At  this  new  menace,  when  there  was  little  will 
or  ability  among  the  men  to  confront  it  with 
vigor,  the  Confederates  must  have  been  appalled  ; 
but  not  so  was  their  brave  leader,  who,  with 
characteristic  will-power  and  decision,  ordered  that 
a  passage-way  be  cut  on  the  morrow  through  all 
obstacles,  and  this  perilous  task  was  entrusted 
to  General  Gordon. 

On  the  morning's  dawn  (the  memorable  9th  of 
April),  Gordon  made  ready  his  cutting-out  force, 
and,  after  a  brief  reconnaissance,  led  a  smart  at- 
tack upon  the  Federals,  whom  he  at  first  drove 
back,  but  was  in  turn  compelled  to  recoil  from  the 
superior  force  brought  up  to  defend  the  place  and 
hem  in  the  Confederate  army.  Finding  that  he 
could  not  force  a  passage-way,  or  even  hold  hi. 3 
ground  with  safety,  Gordon  sent  word  back  t  j 
General  Lee  of  the  straits  he  was  in,  and  advis- 
ing him  of  his  having  been  effectively  checkmated 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  286 

by  the  enemy.     Apprised  of  the  situation,   and 
seeing  no  way  out  of  it  except  at  the  sacrifice  of 
much  life,  which  he  was  now  unwilling  to  make, 
the  Confederate  commander-in-chief    concluded 
that  the  time  had  at  last  come  to  surrender.     He 
therefore  hastened  forward  a  flag  of  truce  k 
General  Sheridan,  seeking  a  suspension  of  hostili- 
ties with  a  view  to  surrender,  and  at  the  same  „ 
Ume  penned  and  despatched  the  following  com- 1 
tnunication  to  General  Grant : 


APRIL  9,  1865. 
"GENERAL: 

"  I  received  your  note  this  morning  on  the 
picket  line,  whither  I  had  come  to  meet  you  and 
ascertain  definitely  what  terms  were  embraced  in 
your  proposition  of  yesterday  with  reference  to 
the  surrender  of  this  army. 

"  I  now  request  an  interview  in  accordance  with 
the  offer  contained  in  your  letter  of  yesterday  for 
that  purpose. 

"Very  respectfully, 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"B.  E.  LEE,  General. 
"To  LIEUT-GENERAL  GRANT, 
"  Commanding  the  Armies  of  the  United  States." 


286  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

The  interview  sought  by  General  Lee  was 
promised  by  the  Federal  General,  as  soon  as  he 
should  be  apprised  of  the  desired  place  of  meeting. 
Notice  of  this  was  forthwith  despatched  to  Gen- 
eral Grant,  and  the  now  historic  meeting  took 
place  between  the  two  commanders,  in  the  village 
at  Appomattox  Court  House,  at  the  house  of 
Wilmer  McLean.  Here,  after  the  formal  greet- 
ing of  the  two  Generals  and  their  respective  staffs, 
the  agreement  of  surrender  was  drawn  up,  signed, 
and  witnessed  ;  while  the  terms  of  surrender  were 
drafted  and  signed  by  the  Federal  Commander, 
and  formally  accepted,  under  seal,  by  the  Con- 
federate General,  as  the  subjoined  document  will 
show : 

"  APPOMATTOX  COURT  HOUSE,  VA. 

April  9,  1865. 
"  GENERAL  : 

"  In  accordance  with  the  substance  of  my  letter 
to  you  of  the  8th  instant,  I  propose  to  receive  the 
surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  on 
the  following  terms,  to  wit :  Rolls  of  all  the  of- 
ficers and  men  to  be  made  in  duplicate,  one  copy 
to  be  given  to  an  officer  designated  by  me,  and 
the  other  to  be  retained  by  such  officer  or  officers 
as  you  may  designate.  The  officers  to  give  their 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  287 

individual  paroles  not  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  United  States  until  properly  exchanged  ;  and 
each  company  or  regimental  commander  to  sign 
a  like  parole  for  the  men  of  their  commands. 
The  arms,  artillery,  and  public  property  to  be 
packed  and  stacked,  and  turned  over  to  the  offi- 
cers appointed  by  me  to  receive  them.  This  will 
not  embrace  the  side  arms  of  the  officers,  or 
their  private  horses  or  baggage.  This  done,  each 
officer  and  man  will  be  allowed  to  return  to  his 
home,  not  to  be  disturbed  by  United  States  au- 
thority so  long  as  they  observe  their  paroles  and 
the  laws  in  force  where  they  may  reside. 

"U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieut. -General. 
"  GENERAL  B.  E.  LEE." 

A  formal  letter,  drafted  and  signed  by  General 
Lee,  was  at  the  interview  delivered  to  General 
Grant,  accepting  the  generous  terms  of  surrender 
and  the  conditions  stipulated  to  be  observed  ;  while, 
on  the  following  day,  Commissioners  representing 
both  causes  met,  drafted,  and  signed  the  append- 
ed Agreement  giving  effect  to  the  surrender. 
The  names  and  ranks  of  the  Commissioners  on 
each  side,  it  will  be  observed,  are  appended  at  the 
foot  of  the  Agreement,  the  details  of  which  are 
as  follows : 


288  UFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

"  APPOMATTOX  COURT  HOUSE,  APRIL  10,  1865 

Agreement  entered  into  this  day  in  regard  to 
the  Surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia to  the  United  States  Authorities  : 

u  1st.  The  troops  shall  march  by  brigades  and 
detachments  to  the  designated  point,  stack  their 
arms,  deposit  their  flags,  sabers,  pistols,  etc., 
and  then  march  to  their  homes  under  charge  of 
their  officers,  superintended  by  their  respective 
division  and  corps  commanders,  officers  retaining 
their  side-arms  and  the  authorized  number  of 
private  horses. 

"  2nd.  All  public  horses  and  public  property  of 
all  kinds  to  be  turned  over  to  staff  officers,  to  be 
designated  by  the  United  States  authorities." 

"  3rd.  Such  transportation  as  may  be  agreed 
upon  as  necessary  for  the  transportation  of  the 
private  baggage  of  officers  will  be  allowed  to  ac- 
company the  officers,  to  be  turned  over  at  the  end 
of  the  trip  to  the  nearest  United  States  Quarter- 
master, receipts  being  taken  for  the  same. 

"4th.  Couriers  and  mounted  men  of  the  ar- 
tillery and  cavalry,  whose  horses  are  their  own 
private  property,  will  be  allowed  to  retain  them. 

"  5th.  The  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  shall  be  construed  to  include  all  the  forces 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  289 

operating  with  that  army  on  the  8th  instant,  the 
date  of  the  commencement  of  the  negotiations  for 
surrender,  except  such  bodies  of  cavalry  as  actu- 
ally made  their  escape  previous  to  the  surrender, 
a  ad  except  also  such  pieces  of  artillery  as  were 
more  than  twenty  miles  from  Appomattox  Court 
House  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  on  the  9th  in- 
stant. (Signed). 

JOHN  GIBBON,  Maj-Gen.  Vols. 
CHARLES  GRIFFIN,  Bt.  Maj-Gen.  V.  S.  Vols. 
W.  MERRITT,  Bt.  Maj-Gen. 
J.  LONGSTREET,  Lieut-Gen. 
J.  B.  GORDON,  Maj-Gen. 
W.  M.  PENDLETON,  Brig-Gen,  and  Chief 

of  Artillery." 

Thus  was  completed  and  given  effect  to  the 
surrender  of  Lee  and  his  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia, and  thus  passed  into  history  the  closing  in- 
cidents of  the  great  Civil  War.  The  number  of 
effective  men  of  Lee's  immediate  command  who, 
on  the  morrow  of  surrender,  took  advantage  of 
the  generous  terms  offered  by  General  Grant,  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States  Government,  did 
not  exceed  10,000  ;  though,  when  the  stragglers 
came  up  and  the  scattered  contingents  were 
gathered  in,  the  entire  number  paroled  reached 


290  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

close  upon  28,000.  Throughout  the  proceedings 
connected  with  the  surrender,  there  was  nothing, 
in  tone  or  manner,  on  the  part  of  the  victors,  to 
wound  the  natural  sensitiveness  of  the  Confeder- 
ates ;  while  no  spirit  of  exultation  was  mani- 
fested, or  aught  shown  save  the  utmost  kindli- 
ness, compassion,  and  sympathy.  This,  added  to 
the  considerate  and  politic  conditions  upon  which 
each  individual  member  of  the  Southern  army 
was  paroled  and  permitted  to  return  to  his  home, 
relieved  surrender  of  all  pang,  and  the  remem- 
brance of  "  a  lost  cause,"  if  it  then  or  afterwards 
intruded  itself,  of  a  sense  of  disappointment  and 
sorrow.  To  Lee,  personally,  the  worst,  if  we 
may  say  it,  was  yet  to  come,  in  taking  leave 
of  his  grim  but  loved  veterans,  and  in  bidding 
each  of  the  now  shrunken  but  heroic  band  fare- 
well. 

Profound  was  the  feeling  with  which  the  little 
army  saw  their  beloved  leader  ride  back  to 
his  headquarters  after  the  surrender  had  been 
practically  effected.  Sobs  and  tears  were  the 
signs  of  their  emotion,  as  all  realized  that  the  end 
had  finally  come,  and  the  last  fight  for  Southern 
independence  had  taken  place.  As  his  men  clus- 
tered around  their  great  Captain,  seeking  to 
grasp  and  give  a  loving  pressure  to  the  hand  of 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  291 

their  long-time  chieftain,  upwelling  tears  in  the 
hero's  eyes  spoke  the  agony  of  his  soul,  and,  in 
trembling  tones,  he  simply  said  to  them  :  "  Men, 
we  have  fought  through  the  war  together  ;  and 
I  have  done  the  best  I  could  for  you.  My  heart 
is  too  full  to  say  more  ! "  On  the  morrow,  how- 
ever, he  took  a  more  formal  leave  of  his  little 
faithful  band,  and  in  the  following  graciously 
expressed  and  noble,  pathetic  words  : 

HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OP  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

April  10,  1865. 

"  AFTER  four  years  of  arduous  service,  marked 
by  unsurpassed  courage  and  fortitude,  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  has  been  compelled  to  yield 
to  overwhelming  numbers  and  resources. 

"  I  need  not  tell  the  survivors  of  so  many  hard- 
fought  battles,  who  have  remained  steadfast  to 
the  last,  that  I  have  consented  to  this  result  from 
no  distrust  of  them ;  but,  feeling  that  valor  and 
devotion  could  accomplish  nothing  that  could 
compensate  for  the  loss  that  would  have  attended 
the  continuation  of  the  contest,  I  have  determined 
to  avoid  the  useless  sacrifice  of  those  whose  past 
services  have  endeared  them  to  their  country- 
men. 

*'  By  the  terms  of  agreement,  officers  and  men 


292  L1FE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

can  return  to  their  homes  and  remain  there  until 
exchanged. 

"You  will  take  with  you  the  satisfaction  that 
proceeds  from  the  consciousness  of  duty  faithfully 
performed  ;  and  I  earnestly  pray  that  a  merciful 
God  will  extend  to  you  His  blessing  and  protec- 
tion. 

"  With  an  unceasing  admiration  of  your  con- 
stancy and  devotion  to  your  country,  and  a  grate- 
ful remembrance  of  your  kind  and  generous  con- 
sideration of  myself,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate 
farewell. 

"R.  E.  LEE,  General." 

But  one  more  act  in  the  drama  of  capitulation 
has  to  be  related,  viz.,  the  summoning,  on  April  12, 
for  the  last  time,  of  the  several  divisions  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  to  a  public  place 
near  the  Appomattox  Court  House,  where  the 
different  commands  stacked  their  arms,  packed 
the  artillery,  deposited  their  accoutrements,  and, 
with  a  salute,  parted  with  their  field  and  regi- 
mental colors.  The  surrender  was  received  for 
General  Grant  (who,  with  a  fine  consideration 
for  the  feelings  of  the  men  of  the  late  army,  re- 
mained at  his  headquarters)  by  Major-General 
Gibbon.  Those  who  had  effected  their  escape 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  293 

(chiefly  2,000  cavalry  under  Rosser  and  Fitz- 
hugh  Lee),  before  the  closing  in  of  Sheridan's 
lines  after  hostilities  were  suspended,  and  who 
afterwards  surrendered,  were  partakers  in  the 
terms  granted  to  the  army  as  a  whole.  All, 
officers  and  men,  were  now  paroled  and  dis- 
banded, and  took  their  several  ways  homewards ; 
while  General  Lee,  accompanied  by  his  staff,  set 
out  for  Richmond  and  reunion  with  those  dear 
to  them.  At  the  late  Confederate  capital,  the 
hero  was  hailed,  alike  by  gray  and  blue  uni- 
formed figures,  with  the  heartiest  enthusiasm ; 
while  by  the  city's  officials  and  citizens  he  was 
awarded  the  respect  and  homage  due  not  only  to 
fidelity,  but  to  stately  courage  and  high  moral 
worth. 

After  the  surrender  and  dispersion  of  Lee  and 
his  army,  General  J  E.  Johnston,  with  whose 
command  in  North  Carolina  Lee  had  with  futile 
purpose  sought  to  form  a  junction,  entered  into 
corespondence  with  General  Sherman,  as  he 
could  now  make  no  stand  alone.  This  corre- 
spondence led  to  the  surrender  of  his  army  at 
Durham  Station  on  the  26th  of  April ;  while 
other  bands  of  Confederate  troops  also  yielded 
themselves  up,  and  the  four  terrible  years  of 
war  finally  came  to  a  close.  Simultaneously, 


294  "LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

General  Grant  returned  with  his  staff  to  Wash- 
ington, where  followed  the  hideous  tragedy  of 
the  assassination,  on  the  14th  of  April,  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  as  he  was  sitting  with  his  family 
in  a  box  at  the  theater  in  the  capital.  The 
lamented  President  died  on  the  following  day. 
The  assassin  was  a  demented  Southern  sympa- 
thizer, John  Wilkes  Booth,  who  belonged  to  an 
actor's  family,  and  had  become  fanatically  op- 
posed to  the  good  and  wise  Lincoln  and  to  the 
Union  Administration  and  party.  Escaping  from 
Washington  after  his  vile  deed,  which  struck  hor- 
ror in  all  breasts,  and  moved  even  the  South  to 
sympathy,  Booth  was  hunted  down  by  a  party  of 
soldiers  near  Fredericksburg,  and,  refusing  to 
surrender,  he  was  shot  in  a  barn  where  he  had 
sought  refuge. 

The  striking  down  of  the  great  Emancipator, 
ever  prone  to  kindliness,  as  he  was,  and  possessing 
a  mind  and  heart  always  influenced  by  humane 
and  just  motives,  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  whole 
country  ;  and  especially  just  then,  when  he  was 
about  to  grapple  with  the  serious  problem  of  Re- 
construction. In  a  sense,  as  the  present  writer 
has  elsewhere  said,  Lincoln's  calamitous  end 
came  as  a  not  unfitting  sequel  to,  and  admoni- 
tion against,  civil  war ;  and  though  it  deprived 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  295 

the  nation 'of  his  wise  counsels  in  the  great  work 
that  lay  before  it,  his  death  and  the  manner  of 
it  were  factors  of  value  in  hushing  all  criti- 
cism of  the  man  and  his  career,  while  raising 
grateful  peans  to  his  memory.  In  unity  well 
might  the  two  sections  of  the  country,  now 
again  become  one,  pay  ceaseless  honor  to  him 
who  had  had  much  to  do,  through  the  long  and 
appalling  conflict,  in  bringing  about  the  happy 
issue  of  Union,  and  who,  in  memorable  words, 
in  his  immortal  Second  Inaugural,  after  be- 
moaning the  scourge  of  war,  and  yet  foreseeing 
its  close,  had  admonished  the  Nation  to  have 
"malice  toward  none,"  and  "with  charity  for 
all,  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us 
to  seethe  right/' besought  them  to  "finish  the 
work  they  were  in,  to  bind  up  the  Nation's 
wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne 
the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphans, 
to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just 
and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all 
nations." 

In  closing  our  narrative  of  the  chief  incidents  of 
the  war,  as  they  connect  themselves  with  General 
Lee,  and  passing  to  follow  the  latter  to  the  close 
of  his  illustrious  career,  it  remains  but  to  add, 
that  a  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed  by  the 


296  LJFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

new  Union  President  (Andrew  Johnson),  on  the 
29th  of  May,  the  last  of  the  Confederate  generals 
having  surrendered  during  the  month;  while  Pres- 
ident Davis  of  the  now  collapsed  Confederacy, 
then  a  fugitive  in  Georgia,  was  captured  on  May 
10th  at  Irwinsville,  Ga.,  and  imprisoned  for  a 
time  in  Fortress  Monroe,  but  later  on  was  liber- 
ated on  parole. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  conflict  the  North 
disbanded  its  large  armies,  over  800,000  having 
been  mustered  out  by  the  month  of  November, 
1865.  "  The  War  for  the  Union,"  remarks  an  his- 
torian authority  (Edward  Channing,  in  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  United  States")  "cost  the  nation, 
North  and  South,  the  lives  of  nearly  a  million 
men  :  about  95,000  Northern  soldiers  were  killed 
on  the  field  of  battle,  or  were  fatally  wounded 
and  died  in  hospitals ;  180,000  more  succumbed 
to  disease  while  on  the  army  rolls.  To  these 
figures  must  be  added  those  who  died  from 
accident,  disappeared  permanently,  or  died  in 
Southern  prisons,  or  in  consequence  of  disease  or 
wounds  contracted  while  in  the  service ;  the  total 
of  those  who  perished  from  all  these  causes  is  not 
far  from  half  a  million ;  about  as  many  more 
Southerners  perished  from  similar  causes.  Hun- 
dreds of  thousands  more  contracted  disorders  or 


OVERTURES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  SURRENDER.  297 

received  wounds  while  in  the  service,  which  did 
not  lead  directly  to  death,  but  which  shortened 
life  or  made  it  wretched.  The  total  money  cost 
of  the  war  to  the  Union  Government  was  about 
3,500  million  dollars — excluding  expenses  incurred 
by  States  and  municipalities,  which  amounted, 
in  all  probability,  at  least  to  300  millions  more. 
Adding  to  this  the  amount  paid  and  to  be  paid  in 
pensions  to  those  who  risked  their  lives  and  the 
well-being  of  their  families  for  the  Union  cause, 
and  the  amount  of  private  property  destroyed 
during  the  conflict,  the  War  for  the  Union  cost 
not  less  than  ten  thousand  million  dollars  1 " 


CHAPTER  XX. 

GENERAL  LEE  INSTALLED  AS  PRESIDENT  OF  WASH- 
INGTON COLLEGE,    LEXINGTON,   VA. 

GENERAL  LEE  lived  for  over  five  years  after 
the  close  of  the  war  ;  and  though  by  a  section  in 
Congress  he  was  the  object,  as  was  the  South 
and  its  late  President  also,  of  suspicion  and 
partizan  dislike,  he  remained  uniformly  loyal  to 
the  new  order  of  things,  as  well  as  unflinching 
in  his  patriotic  purpose  to  restore  the  nation  to 
unity  and  quiet,  orderly  government.  Recon- 
struction, for  a  time,  made  slow  progress,  for 
President  Johnson's  ability  to  smooth  matters  and 
heal  the  sores  of  the  nation  were  not  such  as 
would  doubtless  have  been  his  great  predecessor's, 
had  he  lived  ;  while  many,  like  Davis  and  even 
Lee,  who  had  participated  in  rebellion,  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  measure  of  amnesty  and  pardon 
that  had  been  proclaimed.  In  Lee's  case,  he  was 
even  indicted  for  treason,  at  the  instigation 
of  a  Federal  judge ;  though  his  old  antagonist-in- 
arms, General  Grant,  whom  he  lived  to  see  fill 

298 


LEE  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE.    299 

the  Presidential  chair,  pleaded  the  sacredness  of 
the  Southern  Commander's  military  parole,  and 
legal  proceedings  were  consequently  dropped. 
His  personal  attitude  during  these  trying  years 
was  most  patient  and  retiring,  as  well  as  consist- 
ently dutiful,  as  a  letter  to  his  son,  General  Fitz- 
hugh  Lee,  emphatically  attests  :  "  As  to  the 
indictments,"  writes  the  General,  "  I  hope  you, 
at  least,  may  not  be  prosecuted.  I  see  no  more 
reason  for  it  than  for  prosecuting  all  who  ever 
engaged  in  the  war.  I  think,  however,  we  may 
expect  procrastination  in  measures  of  relief,  de- 
nunciatory threats,  etc.  ;  but  we  must  be  patient 

,o 

and  let  them  take  their  course."  GcC 

-  When  Lee,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  returned  to  ~¥  • 
his  family  at  Richmond,  he  found  the  city  not 
only  in  much  confusion,  but  largely  destroyed  ; 
and,  as  his  ancestral  home  there  of  Arlington 
had  in  his  absence  been  appropriated  to  public 
purposes,  and  was  now  occupied  by  Federal  officials 
and  army  officers,  his  desire  for  quiet  and  privacy 
led  to  his  re-establishing  himself  and  his  family 
in  a  country  house  on  the  James  River  in  Pow- 
hatan  county.  Hither  came  to  him  the  an- 
nouncement that  the  Board  of  Trustees  had 
elected  him  to  the  presidency  of  Washington 
College,  Lexington,  Va.,  a  compliment  which,  as 


300  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

it  was  alike  unsought  and  unexpected,  he  greatly 
appreciated.  The  offer,  while  a  politic  one  on  the 
part  of  the  Trustees,  and  intended  as  an  honor 
to  the  gallant  old  soldier,  as  well  as  a  tribute 
to  his  learning  and  high  character,  General  Lee 
hesitated,  however,  to  accept,  and  that  for  two 
reasons.  These  were,  first,  what  he  deemed  his 
inability,  at  his  advanced  years,  to  undergo  the 
labor  of  conducting  classes  in  regular  courses  of 
instruction — though  he  might  be  equal  to  under- 
take the  general  administration  and  supervision 
of  the  institution  ;  and,  second,  the  fact  that  he 
was  still,  politically,  under  the  ban  of  the  United 
States  Government,  as  an  unamnestied  man ; 
and,  hence,  did  he  accept  the  post,  might  draw 
hostility  upon  the  College  to  its  injury,  as  well  as 
animadversion  from  certain  partizan  quarters. 
These  scruples  and  objections  were,  however,  and 
wisely,  waived  by  the  Board  ;  and  the  close  of 
September,  1865,  found  him  on  his  way  to  Lex 
ington,  to  be  inaugurated  as  President  of  the 
College. 

The  installation  of  the  soldier-president  took 
place  October  2nd  ;  and  though  at  General  Lee's 
request  it  was  quiet  and  simple  in  its  exercises, 
there  was  a  roomful  of  prominent  people  present, 
including  the  students,  faculty,  and  trustees,  to 


LEE  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE.    3Q1 

witness  and  do  honor  to  the  occasion.  After  a 
prayer,  Judge  Brockenbrough,  chairman  of  the 
Board,  made  a  eulogistic  address,  in  which  he  con- 
gratulated "  the  Board  and  College,  and  its  pres- 
ent and  future  students,  on  having  obtained  one 
so  loved  and  great  and  worthy  to  preside  over  the 
institution  ;  "  then  the  oath  of  office  was  admin- 
istered and  taken,  and  the  keys  were  given  up  by 
the  Rector  into  the  keeping  of  the  new  President. 
After  this,  followed  the  customary  introductions 
and  handshakings,  etc.,  the  whole  proceedings,  it 
is  stated,  being  at  once  most  pleasing  and  im- 
pressive. 

On  entering  upon  his  academic  duties,  General 
Lee  removed  his  wife  and  daughters  to  their  new 
home ;  while  his  eldest  son  was,  meanwhile,  called 
to  a  chair  in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute, 
located  also  at  Lexington.  His  management  of 
the  College  was  productive  of  excellent  results, 
bringing  to  it  numbers  of  students  from  many 
sections  of  the  South,  while  raising  it  to  high 
distinction  as  a  widely  approved  center  of  intel- 
lectual training  and  well-maintained  discipline. 
The  incentive  General  Lee  set  himself  in  his  ardu- 
ous, though  self-imposed,  task,  we  find  in  his 
own  characteristic  declaration,  that  "  I  have  led 
the  young  men  of  the  South  in  battle ;  I  have 


302  LJFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

seen  many  of  them  fall  under  my  standard.  I 
shall  devote  my  life  now  to  training  young  men  to 
do  their  duty  in  life." 

At  this  time,  there  was  much  talk  in  Virginia 
and  elsewhere  in  the  South  of  a  wholesale  immi- 
gration to  Mexico,  in  which  Lee's  cooperation 
was  sought :  but  the  General,  though  admitting 
the  possibility  that  a  movement  of  the  kind  might 
conduce  to  prosperity,  discountenanced  the  pro- 
ject, deeming  it  better,  as  he  said,  that  Southern- 
ers should  remain  at  home  and  mold,  as  well  as 
share  in,  the  fortunes  of  their  respective  States, 

In  public  office,  even  that  of  the  governorship 
of  his  own  State,  which  was  offered  him  early  in 
1867,  Lee  could  not  be  induced  to  serve,  preferring 
a  quiet,  unostentatious  life  and  the  enjoyment  of 
privacy  and  home  comforts.  He  was,  however, 
thoroughly  alive  to  and  interested  in  public  affairs, 
and  in  his  letters  to  friends  he  shows  and  gives 
expression  to  his  thoughtful  views  on  many  im- 
portant questions  of  the  time.  In  one  of  these 
letters,  written  in  frank  terms  to  a  correspondent 
and  sympathizer,  he  obviously  cannot  resist 
giving  expression  to  his  alarm  at  the  dangers  that 
then  threatened  the  nation  and  its  republican  in- 
stitutions, as  well  as  his  regret  at  the  many  exist- 
ing signs  of  aggression  on  the  rights  of  his  own 


LEE  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE.    303 

section  of  the  country.  In  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  written  to  a  friend  abroad  at  the 
close  of  1866,  we  see  what  were  his  views  on  the 
traditional  question  of  State  Eights  and  the 
aggressions  of  an  overpowerful  and  autocrati- 
cally-inclined General  Government : 

"  While  I  have  considered  the  preservation  of 
the  constitutional  power  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  be  the  foundation  of  our  peace  and  safety 
at  home  and  abroad,  I  yet  believe  that  the  main- 
tenance of  the  rights  and  authority  reserved  to 
the  States,  and  to  the  people,  not  only  essential  to 
the  adjustment  and  balance  of  the  general  system, 
but  the  safe-guard  of  the  continuance  of  a  free 
government.  I  consider  it  as  the  chief  source  of 
stability  to  our  political  system  ;  whereas  the  con- 
solidation of  the  States  into  one  vast  republic,  sure 
to  be  aggressive  abroad  and  despotic  at  home,  will 
be  the  certain  precursor  of  that  ruin  which  has 
overwhelmed  all  those  that  have  preceded  it." 

On  the  important  matter  of  self-government, 
and  the  attitude  of  the  South  on  the  once-distract- 
ing topic  of  slavery  and  the  tendency  of  recent 
laws  to  place  the  political  power,  sectionally,  in 
the  hands  of  the  negro  race,  General  Lee  felt 
strongly,  as  we  see  from  the  following  expression 
of  his  views,  in  reply  to  a  request  for  such  from 


304:  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

General  Rosecrans  and  other  public  men.  Writ- 
ing from  White  Sulphur  Springs,  W.  Va.,  in  the 
^summer  months  of  1868,  Lee  observes  :  * 

"Whatever  opinions  may  have  prevailed  in  the 
past  with  regard  to  African  slavery  or  the  right 
of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union,  we  believe 
we  express  the  almost  unanimous  judgment  of 
the  Southern  people  when  we  declare  that  they 
consider  that  these  questions  were  decided  by  the 
war,  and  that  it  is  their  intention,  in  good  faith, 
to  abide  by  that  decision.  At  the  close  of  the 
war,  the  Southern  people  laid  down  their  arms 
and  sought  to  resume  their  former  relations  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Through 
their  State  conventions  they  abolished  slavery  and 
annulled  their  ordinances  of  secession  ;  and  they 
returned  to  their  peaceful  pursuits  with  a  sincere 
purpose  to  fulfill  all  their  duties  under  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  which  they  had  sworn 
to  support.  If  their  action  in  these  particulars 
had  been  met  in  a  spirit  of  frankness  and  cordial- 
ity, we  believe  that,  ere  this,  old  irritations  would 
have  passed  away,  and  the  wounds  inflicted  by  the 

*  We  are  indebted  for  this  paper,  setting  forth  General 
Lee's  views,  to  Prof.  H.  A.  White's  biography  of  Lee,  in  the 
"  Heroes  of  the  Nations  "  series,  published  by  Messrs.  G.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  in  1902. 


LEE  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE,    305 

war  would  have  been,  in  a  great  measure,  healed. 
As  far  as  we  are  advised,  the  people  of  the  South 
'entertain  no  unfriendly  feeling  towards  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  but  they  com- 
plain that  their  rights  under  the  Constitution  are 
withheld  from  them  in  the  administration  thereof. 
The  idea  that  the  Southern  people  are  hostile  to 
the  negroes,  and  would  oppress  them,  if  it  were  in 
their  power  to  do  so,  is  entirely  unfounded.  They 
have  grown  up  in  our  midst,  and  we  have  been 
accustomed  from  childhood  to  look  upon  them 
with  kindness.  The  change  in  the  relations  of 
the  two  races  has  wrought  no  change  in  our  feel- 
ings towards  them.  They  still  constitute  an  im- 
portant part  of  our  laboring  population.  With- 
out their  labor,  the  lands  of  the  South  would  be 
comparatively  unproductive  ;  without  the  employ- 
ment which  Southern  agriculture  affords,  they 
would  be  destitute  of  the  means  of  subsistence, 
and  become  paupers  dependent  upon  public  bounty. 
Self-interest,  if  there  were  no  higher  motive, 
would  therefore  prompt  the  whites  of  the  South 
to  extend  to  the  negroes  care  and  protection. 

'  '  The  important  fact  that  the  two  races  are, 
under  existing  circumstances,  necessary  to  each 
other,  is  gradually  becoming  apparent  to  both, 
and  we  believe  that  but  for  influences  exerted  to 


306  LI^  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

stir  up  the  passions  of  the  negroes,  the  relations 
of  the  two  races  would  soon  adjust  themselves  on 
a  basis  of  mutual  kindness  and  advantage. 

"  It  is  true  that  the  people  of  the  South,  in  com- 
mon with  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
North  and  West,  are,  for  obvious  reasons,  inflexi- 
bly opposed  to  any  system  of  laws  that  would  place 
the  political  power  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of 
the  negro  race.  But  this  opposition  springs  from 
no  feeling  of  enmity,  but  from  a  deep-seated  con- 
viction that,  at  present,  the  negroes  have  neither 
the  intelligence  nor  the  other  qualifications  which 
are  necessary  to  make  them  safe  depositaries  of 
political  power.  They  would  inevitably  become 
the  victims  of  demagogues  who,  for  selfish  pur- 
poses, would  mislead  them,  to  the  serious  injury 
of  the  public. 

"The  great  want  of  the  South  is  peace.  The 
people  earnestly  desire  tranquillity  and  a  restora- 
tion of  the  Union.  They  deprecate  disorder  and  ex- 
citement as  the  most  serious  obstacle  to  their  pros- 
perity. They  ask  a  restoration  of  their  rights 
under  the  Constitution.  They  desire  relief  from 
oppressive  misrule.  Above  all,  they  would  appeal 
to  their  countrymen  for  the  reestablishment,  in 
the  Southern  States,  of  that  which  has  justly  been 
regarded  as  the  birthright  of  every  American, 


LEE  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE.    307 

the  right  of  self-government.  Establish  these  on 
a  firm  basis,  and  we  can  safely  promise,  on  behalf  ' 
of  the  Southern  people,  that  they  will  faithfully 
obey  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  treat  the  negro  population  with  kindness 
and  humanity,  and  fulfill  every  duty  incumbent 
on  peaceful  citizens,  loyal  to  the  Constitution  of 
their  country." 

This  deliverance  of  Lee  on  the  political  and 
social  condition  of  the  South  is,  as  will  be  seen, 
calm  and  temperate,  as  was  his  testimony,  given 
at  Washington,  early  in  1866,  when  summoned 
thither  to  be  interrogated  by  the  Congressional 
Committee  on  Reconstruction.  His  views  in  re- 
gard to  the  latter  were  those  of  a  sane,  thought- 
ful and  loyal  citizen,  sincerely  anxious  for  peace 
and  harmony  in  the  South,  as  well  as  for  the  re- 
sumption of  cordial  relations  between  the  two 
sections  of  the  now  common  country.  But,  as  we 
have  said,  Lee  was  averse  to  taking  part  in  the  pub- 
lic discussions  of  the  time,  and  was  most  guarded 
in  everything  that  escaped  him,  that  might  be 
construed  as  a  criticism  upon  the  Administration 
at  Washington,  and  its  policy  in  restoring  peace 
and  order  in  the  late  seceding  States  and  in  re- 
moving the  disabilities  under  which  many  of  its 
chief  citizens  still  lay.  Contention,  public  or  pri- 


308  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

vate,  was  never  his  habit,  and  he  ever  eschewed  the 
discussion  of  all  controverted  questions  that  might 
tempt  him  to  engage  in  it.  Besides,  he  was  now 
giving  almost  his  whole  thought  to  his  academic 
duties  in  College,  actuated  by  a  deep  sense  of  his 
responsibility  as  President,  and  his  desire  to  bring 
the  institution  to  the  highest  possible  state  of 
efficiency.  In  this  laudable  work  he  was  signally 
successful,  especially  when  we  consider  from  what 
a  low  ebb  in  its  affairs  he  had  built  up  the  institu- 
tion, which,  when  he  took  hold  of  it,  was  utterly 
broken  in  fortune  and  without  resources  and 
equipment,  while  the  war  had  practically  closed 
its  doors.  Lee's  absorbing  interest  in  his  duties 
throughout  the  five  years  his  sadly  shortened  life 
enabled  him  to  give  to  the  administration  of  the 
College's  affairs,  is  thus  appreciatively  vouched  for 
by  his  nephew  and  military  biographer,  General 
Fitzhugh  Lee  (See  "Life  of  General  Lee,"  in  the 
Great  Commanders'  series).  "Year  by  year," 
states  the  narrator,  "  the  conception  of  his  (Pre- 
sident Lee's)  duty  grew  stronger,  and  year  by 
year,  as  its  instrument,  the  College  grew  dearer. 
He  was  no  figurehead,  kept  in  position  for  the 
attraction  of  his  name  ;  his  energy,  zeal,  and 
administrative  ability  surmounted  all  difficulties. 
His  great  labors  were  directed  to  making  Washing- 


LEE  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE.    309 

ton  College  the  seat  of  science,  art,  and  literature. 
Far-reaching  plans  laid  for  its  success  were  wisely 
conceived.  ...  A  scholastic  monument  was  slowly 
responding  to  his  noble  influence  and  wise  admin- 
istration, which  would  be  as  illustrious  as  his  most 
brilliant  military  achievements.  He  mastered  all 
details,  observing  the  students,  becoming  person- 
ally acquainted  with  them,  their  aspirations  and 
hopes  ;  his  interest  followed  them  everywhere  ;  and 
their  associations,  dispositions,  and  habits,  were 
well  known  to  him.  He  never  grew  imperious, 
or  tried  to  force  a  measure  upon  the  faculty,  but 
modestly  said  he  had  but  one  vote  and  wished  to 
know  the  opinion  of  his  colleagues,  and  leave  the 
decision  to  be  determined  by  the  whole  body. 
Sustained  by  the  loftiest  principles  of  virtue  and 
religion,  an  exalted  character,  and  a  conscientious 
sense  of  duty,  General  Lee  suffered  no  complaint 
to  escape  his  lips  during  the  eventful  years,  from 
1865  to  1870,  though  troubled  by  much  that  was 
'  taking  place." 

Besides  this  testimony  to  General  Lee's  untiring 
labors  on  behalf  of  the  College,  we  know  that  his 
wise  administration  of  its  affairs  helped  to  im- 
prove its  finances  and  gain  for  it  occasional  gifts 
and  endowments,  most  welcome  at  the  time  to  the 
institution.  He  was  also  himself  cheered  by  the 


310  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

coming  to  the  College  of  many  studious  youth 
who  had  served  under  him  in  the  war  ;  and  whose 
education  had  been  interrupted  by  the  four  years 
of  unhappy  conflict.  His  influence  was  great  upon 
these,  as  well  as  upon  all  in  the  classes,  and  that 
not  only  intellectually,  but  morally,  for  he  ever 
regarded  religious  training  as  an  important 
feature  in  the  functions  of  the  College,  as  well  as 
the  training  that  would  make  men  worthy  and 
useful  citizens  and  high-minded,  honorable  gentle- 
men, after  his  own  exemplary  and  characteristic 
type.  Socially,  his  influence  also  was  great,  as 
we  see  in  the  offers  that  were  repeatedly  made  to 
him  of  influential  and  often  highly-remunerated 
positions,  which,  however,  he  invariably  refused, 
so  that  he  might  give  his  undivided  time  and 
attention  to  the  educational  and  administrative 
affairs  of  the  College. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

EVENING  SHADOWS,  AND  DEATH. 

As  the  years  passed  over  him,  General  Lee,  un- 
happily, found  himself  in  indifferent  health,  in 
consequence  of  the  return  of  an  old  ailment  to 
which  his  long  and  arduous  military  life  had  ex- 
posed him,  and  now  left  him  often  a  great  sufferer. 
This  was  an  aggravated  form  of  rheumatism, 
which  threatened  the  vitals  and  gave  him  almost 
constant  pain  in  his  chest.  Early  in  the  year  of 
1870,  the  General's  distress  from  this  affliction  in- 
creased, and  at  length  became  so  great  that  he 
was  reluctantly  necessitated  to  rest  from  his 
labors  and  undertake  a  trip  to  Georgia  and  other 
parts  of  the  South.  In  this  expedition  in  searcn 
of  health,  he  was  accompanied  by  his  most  duti- 
ful and  ever-watchful  daughter,  Agnes,  who, 
with  her  mother,  also  an  invalid,  were  at  this 
time  very  solicitous  about  him.  While  in  the 
South,  Lee's  general  health  improved,  and  he 
seemed  to  be  benefited  by  the  change  of  scene 

and  air,  so  that  he  returned  to  his  college  duties 

311 


312  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

in  the  autumn  session  ;  though,  to  the  close  obser- 
ver, his  appearance  showed  traces  of  the  onward 
progress  of  disease.  His  step,  at  this  time,  we  are 
told,  began  to  lose  its  elasticity  ;  while  the  shoul- 
ders began  to  droop  and  the  ruddy  glow  disap- 
peared from  his  face.  There  were  signs  soon  also 
of  cerebral  exhaustion  and  congestion  of  the  brain, 
which  showed  that  the  end  was  now  not  far  off. 
His  nephew-biographer,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  gives  us 
the  incidents  that  befell  the  great  soldier,  premon- 
itory of  the  approaching  end.  "A  noble  life," 
he  tells  us,  "was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  morn- 
ing of  September  28,  1870,  found  him  faithfully 
performing  the  duties  of  his  office  ;  the  afternoon, 
engaged  with  his  brother  members  of  the  vestry 
of  Grace  Episcopal  Church"  (at  Lexington)  "  in 
work  congenial  to  the  true  Christian,  and  the 
autumn  evening  shadows  fell  upon  a  couch  over 
which  the  heavenly  angels  were  bending.  The 
important  question  of  rebuilding  the  church  and 
increasing  his  faithful  friend  and  pastor's  com- 
pensation had  interested  him  so  deeply  at  the 
vestry  meeting,  that  the  cold  church  and  the  out- 
side storm  were  forgotten,  and  it  was  only  after 
a  protracted  session  of  over  three  hours,  as  he 
proceeded  to  his  house,  a  short  distance  off,  that 
weariness  and  weakness  overtook  him,  and  his 


EVENING  SHADOWS,  AND  DEATH.  313 

wavering  steps  indicated  increasing  feebleness. 
Entering  his  private  office,  as  usual,  he  took  off 
his  hat,  military  cloak,  and  overshoes,  and  then 
proceeded  to  join  his  family,  who  had  been  wait- 
ing tea  for  him.  Quietly  he  stood  in  his  accus- 
tomed place  in  the  dining-room,  while  his  family, 
with  bowed  heads,  waited  to  hear  the  well-known 
grace,  but  no  sound  came  from  his  lips.  Speech- 
less the  great  soldier  stood  ;  an  expression  of  de- 
spair spread  over  his  face  ;  and  from  his  eyes  came 
a  dreamy,  far-away  look,  which  denoted  the  ap- 
proaching summons  from  his  Creator. 

"  ' My  husband  came  in,'  wrote  Mrs.  Lee,  'and 
I  asked  where  he  had  been,  remarking  that  he 
had  kept  us  waiting  a  long  time.  He  did  not 
reply,  but  stood  up  as  if  to  say  grace.  No  word 
proceeded  from  his  lips,  but  with  a  sublime  look 
of  resignation  he  sat  down  in  his  chair.'  With 
intense  anxiety  the  family  went  to  his  assistance. 
A  bed  was  brought  to  the  dining-room,  in  which 
he  was  placed,  and  doctors  were  quickly  sum- 
moned. For  two  weeks, 

«  Twixt  night  and  morn  upon  the  horizon's  verge, 
Between  two  worlds  life  hovered  like  a  star.' 

"Mrs.  Lee  tells  us  that  his  whole  demeanor 
during  his  sickness  was  that  of  one  who  had 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

taken  leave  of  earth.  He  never  smiled,  and 
rarely  attempted  to  speak,  except  in  his  dreams, 
and  then,  she  says,  '  he  wandered  to  those  dread- 
ful battlefields.'  '  You  must  get  out  and  ride 
your  faithful  gray,'  the  doctor  said.  He  shook 
his  head  and  looked  upward  ;  and  once  when  his 
daughter  Agnes  urged  him  to  take  medicine,  he 
looked  at  her  and  said,  *  It  is  no  use.'  Human 
love  was  powerful,  human  aid  powerless.  Hope 
and  Despair  were  twin  watchers  by  his  bed-side. 
At  first,  as  his  disease  seemed  to  yield  to  treat- 
ment, Hope  brightened,  but  soon  Despair  alone 
kept  watch.  During  the  afternoon  and  night  of 
October  10th  shadowy  clouds  of  approaching  dis- 
solution began  to  gather,  a  creeping  lethargy  cap- 
tured the  faculties,  and  the  massive  grandeur  of 
form  and  face  began  to  contract.  During  the 
succeeding  day  he  rapidly  grew  worse ;  his 
thoughts  wandered  to  the  fields  where  he  had 
so  often  led  his  gray  battalions  to  victory  ;  and 
like  the  greatest  of  his  captains,  Stonewall  Jack- 
son, whose  expiring  utterance  told  'A.  P.  Hill 
to  prepare  for  action,'  he  too,  in  death's  delirium, 
said,  '  Tell  Hill  he  must  come  up  ; '  '  For  the 
last  forty-eight  hours  he  seemed  quite  insensible 
of  our  presence,'  Mrs.  Lee  states  ;  'he  breathed 
more  heavily,  and  at  last  gently  sank  to  rest 


EVENING  SHADOWS,  AND  DEATH.  315 

with  one  deep-drawn  sigh,  and,  oh,  what  a 
glorious  rest  was  in  store  for  him  ! ' ' 

Death  occurred  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of 
October,  1870,  when  the  great  Southern  leader  had 
reached  his  sixty- fourth  year.  Two  days  later, 
the  College  chapel  received  all  that  was  mortal 
of  the  deceased  warrior,  and  on  the  15th  the 
casket  enclosing  his  remains  was,  after  a  brief 
but  impressive  service,  lowered  into  a  vault  in 
rear  of  the  College  chapel,  where,  later  on,  his 
wife  and  daughter  Agnes  also  found  burial. 

"  Tolling  bells,"  relates  the  sympathetic  biog- 
rapher, from  whose  work  we  have  already  made 
quotation,  "  first  proclaimed  the  sad  intelligence  " 
(of  the  death  of  the  warrior)  to  the  citizens  of 
Lexington,  electric  wires  flashed  it  to  the  world. 
Throughout  the  South  business  was  suspended, 
schools  were  closed,  societies  and  associations  of 
all  sorts  assembled,  where  eulogistic  speeches 
were  made,  and  resolutions  passed  laudatory  of 
General  Lee's  life,  and  lamenting  his  death.  In 
those  adopted  by  the  faculty  of  the  College  it 
was  declared  that  '  his  executive  ability,  his  en- 
larged views  of  liberal  culture,  his  extraordi- 
nary powers  in  the  government  of  men,  his  won. 
derful  influence  over  the  minds  of  the  young, 
and  his  steady  and  earnest  devotion  to  duty, 


316  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

made  the  College  spring,  as  if  by  the  touch  of 
magic,  from  its  depression  after  the  war  to  its 
present  firm  condition  of  permanent  and  wide- 
spread usefulness' ;  that  it  was  '  a  deep  satisfac- 
tion to  receive  his  remains  beneath  the  chapel  he 
had  built;'  and  that  the  'memory  of  his  noble < 
life  will  remain  as  an  abiding  inspiration  to  the 
young  of  the  country  as  they  gather  at  the  last 
scene  of  his  labors,  to  emulate  his  virtues  and  to 
follow  his  great  example.' ' 

Equally  sincere  and  hearty  were  other  laudatory 
comments  on  the  man  and  his  career  expressed  by 
prominent  people  and  influential  public  bodies 
throughout  the  South.  At  a  Lee  Memorial  meet- 
ing, held  at  Richmond  on  Nov  3rd,  one  of  Lee's 
old  colleagues  in  the  war,  Major-General  Gor- 
don, thus  admiringly  spoke  of  the  hero  :  "  Of  no 
man  whom  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune  to  meet  can 
it  be  so  truthfully  said  as  of  Lee,  that,  grand  as 
might  be  your  conception  of  the  man  before,  he 
rose  in  incomparable  majesty  on  more  familiar 
acquaintance.  This  can  be  affirmed  of  few  men 
who  have  ever  lived  or  died,  and  of  no  other  man 
whom  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  approach.  Like 
Niagara,  the  more  you  gazed,  the  more  its  gran- 
deur grew  upon  you,  the  more  its  majesty  expand- 
ed and  filled  your  spirit  with  a  full  satisfaction. 


EVENING  SHADOWS,  AND  DEATH.  317 

that  left  a  perfect  delight  without  the  slightest  feel- 
ing of  oppression.  Grandly  majestic  and  dignified 
in  his  deportment,  he  was  as  genial  as  the  sun- 
light of  May,  and  not  a  ray  of  that  cordial  social 
intercourse  but  brought  warmth  to  the  heart,  as 
it  brought  light  to  the  understanding."  At  the 
same  meeting,  the  ex-President  of  the  Confederate 
States,  the  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  remarked  that 
"this  day  we  unite  our  words  of  sorrow  with 
those  of  the  good  and  great  throughout  Christen- 
dom, for  General  Lee's  fame  has  gone  far  over  the 
water  ;  and,  when  the  monument  we  shall  build 
to  his  memory  shall  have  crumbled  into  dust,  his 
virtues  will  still  live — a  high  model  for  the  imita- 
tion of  generations  yet  unborn."  Another  prom- 
inent figure  and  fellow  actor  in  the  war,  Lee's  close 
friend,  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  wrote  thus  to  the 
lamenting  widow,  three  days  after  her  great  loss  : 

"  MY  DEAR  MADAM  : 

"Although  you  are  receiving  the  strongest 
proofs  that  a  whole  people  are  sharing  in  your 
great  sorrow,  I  venture  to  write,  not  merely  to  say 
how  I,  General  Lee's  earliest  and  most  devoted 
friend,  lament  his  death,  and  how  sadly  the  event 
will  visit  my  memory  while  I  stay  on  earth,  but, 
still  more,  to  assure  you  of  my  deep  sympathy  in 


318  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

this  greatest  bereavement  a  human  being  can 
know,  and  of  my  fervent  prayers  to  our  merciful 
God  that  He  may  grant  His  help  to  you  and  your 
children. 

"Most  sincerely  and  truly  your  friend, 

"J.  E.  JOHNSTON." 

Commenting  on  Lee's  military  reputation, 
General  Fitzhugh  Lee  truly  and  admiringly  ob- 
serves, that :  "  In  strategy,  it  is  certain  Lee  stands 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  great  warriors  of  the 
world.  He  was  a  greater  soldier  than  Sir  Henry 
Havelock,  and  equally  devout  as  a  Christian.  .  .  . 
He  had  the  swift  intuition  to  discern  the  purpose 
of  his  opponent,  and  the  power  of  rapid  combina- 
tion to  oppose  to  it  prompt  resistance.  .  .  .  The 
world  places  Lee  by  the  side  of  its  greatest  cap- 
tains, because,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  conflict- 
ing anxieties,  interests,  and  the  gravity  of  issues 
involved,  he  only  surrendered  his  battle-stained, 
bullet-riddled  banners  after  demonstrating  that 
all  had  been  done  that  mortal  could  accomplish. 
The  profession  of  the  soldier  has  been  honored  by 
his  renown,  the  cause  of  education  by  his  virtues, 
religion  by  his  piety." 

One  more  comment  we  must  permit  ourselves, 
and  that  on  the  subject  of  the  great  soldier's  per- 


EVENING  SHADOWS,  AND  DEATH.  319 

sonal  appearance  and  power  of  impressing  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  him.  The  extract  is  from 
the  narrative  of  a  visit  to  General  Lee,  in  the 
Spring  of  1870,  by  a  Canadian  cavalry  officer  and 
writer  on  military  tactics,  Lt.-Col.  Geo.  T.  Den- 
ison,  who  was,  moreover,  a  great  admirer  of  the 
General.  Colonel  Denison  writes :  "  General 
Lee  impressed  one  exceedingly.  I  have  seen  some 
men  whom  the  world  esteems  great  men,  but  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  no  man  ever 
impressed  me  as  did  General  Robert  E.  Lee.  In 
stature  he  was  about  five  feet  ten  inches,  but 
from  his  splendid  figure  and  magnificent  carriage, 
as  well  as  from  the  massive  appearance  of  his 
head,  he  seemed  much  taller.  He  looked  the  very 
personification  of  high  and  pure  intelligence.  No 
one  could  fail  to  be  at  once  impressed,  nay,  awed, 
by  the  calm  majesty  of  his  intellect ;  while  there 
was  an  almost  childlike  simplicity  and  kindness 
of  manner  that  irresistibly  won  upon  you  at  once. 
He  was  one  of  those  men  that  made  the  ancients 
believe  in  demi-gods.  His  defeat  served  but  to 
add  to  his  greatness  ;  for  nothing  could  shake  his 
equanimity.  In  all  his  reverses  not  a  complaint 
escaped  him,  not  a  murmur  did  he  utter,  although 
he  must  have  felt  keenly  the  wrongs  and  suffer- 
ings of  those  for  whom  he  had  fought  so  well." 


320  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

The  calm  dignity  with  which  Lee  met  adversity, 
here  referred  to  by  Colonel  Denison,  has  been 
*he  subject  of  many  approving  remarks,  and, 
with  his  quiet  reticence  in  submitting  finally  to 
the  inevitable,  won  for  him  Northern  sympathy 
as  well  as  elicited  Southern  pride.  In  his  long, 
brilliant,  but  unequal  struggle,  when  in  command 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  he  was  never 
known  to  repine  or  manifest  the  slightest  resent- 
ment or  bitterness.  Such  even  was  his  command 
of  temper  that ,  as  has  often  been  said,  he  was  never 
seen  angry,  and  rarely  had  a  disapproving  or  con- 
demnatory word  to  say  of  any  one.  In  this  respect, 
his  self-restraint  was  as  remarkable  as  was  his 
self-possession  and  uniform  moderation.  In  short, 
rarely  in  the  annals  of  war  is  there  a  nobler 
record  to  be  met  with  of  an  army  leader  who  com- 
bined in  his  person  the  highest  qualities  of  a  sol- 
dier-hero and  a  Christian.  Nothing  in  his  re- 
splendent career  dims  the  luster  of  his  character 
in  the  latter  respect,  or  qualifies  the  example  he 
ever  set  before  him  of  a  humble  and  trustful 
soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  a  constant  and  con- 
sistent follower  of  his  divine  Master,  General  Lee's 
example  had  a  beneficent  influence  upon  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  him  ;  while  his  trustfulness 
in  a  Guiding  Power  marked  the  man  in  all  his 


EVENING  SHADOWS,  AND  DEATH. 

dealings,  and  in  every  difficulty  or  emergency  he 
had  to  confront.  Very  beautiful  in  this  aspect 
was  his  life,  while  most  winning  was  his  bearing 
and  manner,  and  grandly  inspiring  his  influence 
and  example. 

THE  END. 


POPULAR  LITERATURE  FOR  THE  MASSES, 
COMPRISING  CHOiCE  SELECTIONS  FROM  THE 
TREASURES  OF  THE  WORLD'S  KNOWLEDGE, 
ISSUED  IN  A  SUBSTANTIAL  AND  ATTRACT! VI 
CLOTH  BINDING,  AT  A  POPULAR  PRICE. 


BURTS  HOME  LIBRARY  is  a  scries  which 
includes  the  standard  works  of  the  world's  best  literature, 
bound  in  uniform  cloth  binding,  gilt  tops,  embracing 
chiefly  selections  from  writers  of  the  most  notable 
English,  American  and  Foreign  Fiction,  together  with 
many  important  works  in  the  domains 
of  History,  Biography,  Philosophy, 
Travel.  Poetry  and  the  Essays* 

A  glance  at  the  following  annexed 
fist  of  titles  and  authors  will  endorse 
the  claim  that  the  publishers  make 
for  it — that  it  is  the  most  compre- 
hensive, choice,  interesting,  and  by 
far  the  most  carefully  selected  series 
of  standard  authors  for  world-wide 
reading  that  has  been  produced  by 
any  publishing  house  in  any  country,  and  that  at  prices  * 
*o  cheap,  and  in  a  style  so  substantial  and  pleasing,  as  to 
win  for  it  millions  of  readers  and  the  approval  and 
commendation,  not  only  of  the  book  trade  throughout 
the  American  continent*  but  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
librarians,  clergymen,  educators  and  men  of  letters 
interested  in  the  dissemination  of  instructive,  entertaining 
and  thoroughly  wholesome  reading  matter  for  the  masses. 

[SEE  FOLLOWING  PAGES] 


BURTS  HOME  LIBRARY.     Cloth.     Gilt  Top*.    Price,  $1.23 


Abbe    Constantin.      By    Halcvy. 

Abbot.  The.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott 

Adam   Bede.     By  George  Eliot 

Addison's  Essays.  By  Joseph  Addison 

JEneid  of  VirgiL 

Xsop's  Fables. 

Alexander,    the   Great,    Life   of.     By 

John   Williams. 
Alfred,     the     Great,     Life     of.     By 

Thomas  Hughes. 

Alhambra,  The.  Washington  Irving. 
Alice  in  Wonderland.  Lewis  Carroll 
All  Sorts  and  Conditions  of  Men. 

By  Walter  Besant. 
Alton  Locke.  By  Charles  Kingsley. 
Amiel's  Journal. 
Andersen's  Fairy  Tales. 
Anne  of  Geirstein.  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Antiquary,  The.  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments. 
Ardath.  By  Marie  CorellL 
Arnold,  Benedict,  Life  of.  By  George 

Canning    Hill. 

Arnold's    Poems.     Matthew   Arnold. 
Around     the     World     in     the     Yacht 

Sunbeam.  By  Mrs.  Brassey. 
Arundel  Motto.  Mary  Cecil  Hay. 
At  the  Back  of  the  North  Wind.  By 

George  Macdonald. 
Attic   Philosopher.   Emile   Souvestre. 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table.  By 

O.   W.   Holmes. 

Bacon's  Essays.  By  Francis  Bacon. 
Barnaby  Rudge.  By  Charles  Dickens. 
Barrack  Room  Ballads.  By  Rudyard 

Kipling. 

Beulah.    By  Augusta  J.  Evans. 
Black  Beauty.     By  Anna  Sewell. 
Black  Dwarf,  The.   Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Black  Rock.     By   Ralph  Connor. 
Black  Tulip,  The.     By  Alex.  Dumas. 
Bleak  House.        By  Charles   Dickens. 
Blithedale     Romance,    The.     By    Na- 
thaniel Hawthorne. 
Bondsman,  The.     By  Hall  Caine. 
Book  of  Golden  Deeds.  By  Charlotte 

M.   Yonge. 
Boone,  Daniel.  Life  of.    By  Cecil  B. 

Hartley. 

Bride  of  Lammermoor.  By  Sir  Walter 

Scott 

Browning^    Poems.     (Elizabeth.) 
Jrowning's  Poems.     (Robert) 


Bryant's   Poems.     W.   C.   Bryant. 
Burgomasters'  Wife.    George  Ebers. 
Burns'  Poems.    By  Robert  Burns. 
By  Order  of  the  King.  By  Hugo. 
Byron's  Poems.     By  Lord  Byron. 
Caesar,    Julius,    Life    of.      By    Jaraej 

Anthony    Froude. 
Carson,    Kit,    Life    of.      By    Charlef 

Burdett 

Gary's  Poems.  (Alice  and  Phoebe.) 
Cast  Up  by  the  Sea.     Sir  S.  Baker. 
Charles  Auchester.     By  E.  Berger. 
Character.     By  Samuel   Smiles. 
Charlemagne     (Charles     the     Great), 

Life   of.    By   Thomas   Hodgkin. 
Charles  C^Malley.  By  Charles  Lever. 
Ckesterfield's      Letters.         By      Lord 

Chesterfield. 

Chevalier  de  Maison  Rouge.     By  Al- 
exander Dumas. 
Children    of   the   Abbey.     By    Regina 

Maria   Roche. 

Chicot  th'e  Jester.     By  Alex.  Dumas. 
Child's     History     of     England.       By 

Charles  Dickens. 

Christmas   Stories.    Charles  Dickens. 
Cloister  and  the  Hearth.     By  Charles 

Reade. 

Coleridge's   Poems.     By   S.  T.   Cole* 
ridge. 

Columbus,   Christopher,  Life  of.     By 

Washington  Irving. 
Companions   of   Jehu,    The,     Dumas. 
Complete  Angler.  Walton  &  Cotton. 
Conduct   of   Life.    R.   W.   Emerson. 
Confessions  of  an  Opium  Eater.     By 

Thomas  de  Quincey. 
Conquest  of  Granada,     By  Washing. 

ton  Irving. 

Conquest    of    Mexico,    Vol.    I.      By 

Wm.  H.  Prescott 
Conquest    of   Mexico.     Vol.    II.      By 

Wm.  H.  Prescott 
Conquest  of  Peru.     Vol.  L     By  Wm. 

H.  Prescott 
Conquest  of  Peru.    Vol.  II.  By  Wm. 

H.  Prescott 
Conspiracy   of    Pontiac.     By   Francis 

Parkman,   Jr. 

Conspirators,  The.    Dumas. 
Consuelo.      By    George    Sand. 
Cook's  Voyages.  Captain  James  Cook. 
Corinne.     By  Madame  de   Stael. 
Count  of  Monte  CristO.     Vol.  I,    Bj 
Alex  Dumas, 


BURT'S  HOME  LIBRARY.    Cloth.    Gilt  Tops.    ?rtce.$1.23 


Count  of  Monte  Cristo.  Vol.  II. 
By  Alex.  Dumas. 

Countess   de    Charney.    Alex    Dumas. 

Countess  of   Rudolstadt   Geo.    Sand. 

Country  Doctor.   By  H.   de   Balzac. 

Courtship  of  Miles  Standish.  By  H. 
W.  Longfellow. 

Cranford.      By   Mrs.    Gaskell. 

Crockett,  David.    An  autobiography. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  Life  of.  By  Edwin 
Paxton  Hood. 

Crusades,  The.    By  George  W.  Cox. 

Daniel  Deronda,     By  George  Eliot. 

Data  of  Ethics.    By  Herbert  Spencer. 

Daughter  of  an  Empress.  By  Louisa 
Muhlback. 

David   Copperfield.   Charles  Dickens. 

Days  of  Bruce.  By  Grace  Aguilar. 

Deemster,  The.     By  Hall  Caine. 

Deerslayer,  The.    By  J.  F.  Cooper. 

Descent  of  Man.  By  Charles  Darwin. 

Discourses  of  Epictctus. 

Divine  Comedy,  The.  (Dante.) 
Translated  by  Rev.  H.  F.  Carey. 

Dombey    &    Son.    CharlK    Dickens. 

Donal   Grant     George  Macdonald. 

Donovan.     By   Edna   Lyall. 

Dove  in  the  Eagle's  Nest.  By  Char- 
lotte M.  Yonge. 

Dream  Life.     By  Ik  Marvel 

Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde.  By  R.  L. 
Stevenson. 

Duty.     By  Samuel  Smiles. 

East  Lynne.  By  Mrs.  Henry  Wood, 

Education.    By  Herbert   Spencer. 

Egoist.      By    George    Meredith. 

Egyptian  Princess.     George   Ebers. 

Eight  Hundred  Leagues  on  the  Ama- 
zon. By  Jules  Verne. 

Eliot's  Poems.     By  George  Eliot. 

Elizabeth  and  Her  German  Garden. 

Elizabeth  (Queen  of  England),  Life 
of.  Edward  Spencer  Beesly. 

Elsie  Venner.     By  O.  W.  Holmes. 

Emerson's    Essays.      (Complete.) 

Emerson's  Poems.     R.  W.  Emerson. 

Essays  in  Criticism.  Matthew  Arnold. 

Essays  of   Elia.     By   Charles   Lamb. 

Evangeline.    By    H,    W.    Longfellow. 

Fair  Maid  of  Perth.  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Fairly  Land  of  Science.  By  Arabella 
JJ.  Buckley. 


Faust      (Goethe.) 

Felix  Holt.     By  George  Eliot 

Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World* 

By   E.    S.    Creasy. 

File    No.    113.      By    Emile    Gaboriaa. 
Krst  Principles.     Herbert   Spencer. 
First  Violin.   By  Jessie  FothergilL 
For  Lilias.     By  Rosa  N.  Carey. 
Forty-Five    Guardsmen.      Dumas. 
Foul  Flay.     By  Charles  Reade. 
Fragments  of   Science.  John  TyndalL 
Franklin,    Benjamin,    Life    of.       Aa 

autobiography. 
Frederick   the   Great   and   His   Court 

By  Louisa  Muhlback. 
Frederick,    the    Great,    Life    of.      By 

Francis  Kugler. 

French   Revolution.  Thomas  Carlyle. 
From   the    Earth   to   the    Moon.     By 

Jules  Verne. 

Garibaldi,  General,  Life  of.  By  Theo- 
dore  Dwight. 

Gil  Bias.     A.  R.  Le  Sage. 
Gold  Bug,  The.     Edgar  A.  Pofc 
Gold  Elsie.     By  E.  Marffit 
Golden  Treasury.  By  T.  Palgrare. 
Goldsmith's   Poems. 
Grandfather's     Chair.     By     Nathaniel 

Hawthorne. 

Grant    Ulysses    S.,    Life   of.      By   J. 

T.   Headley. 

Gray's  Poems.     Thomas  Gray. 
Great  Expectations.    Charles  Dickens, 
Greek  Heroes.   Charles  Kingsley. 
Green   Mountain   Boys,   The.     By  D. 

P.  Thompson. 
Grimm's  Household  Tales. 
Grimm's   Popular  Tales. 
Gulliver's  Travels.     By  Dean  Swift 
Guy  Mannering.     Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Hale,    Nathan,   the   Martryr    Spy.   B/ 

Charlotte   M.    Holloway. 
Handy   Andy.      By    Samuel    Lover. 
Hannibal,   the   Carthaginian,    Life  ot 

By  Thomas  Arnold. 
Hardy  Norseman.  By  Edna  Lyall. 
Harold.     By  Bulwea>Lytton. 
Harry    Lorrequer.      Charles   Lever. 
Heart  of  Midlothian.  By  Sir  Walter 

Scott 

Heir  of  Redclyffe.     By  Charlotte  M, 
Yonge. 

Heoun's  Poems,  By  Felicia  Hemans. 


BURT'S  HOME  LIBRARY.    Cloth.    Gilt  Tops.     Price,  $1.25 


Henry    Esmond.    W.    M.    Thackeray. 
Henry,   Patrick,  Life  of.   By   William 

Hereward.     By  Charles  Kingsley. 

Heroes  and  Hero-Worship.  By  Thos. 
Carlyle. 

Hiawatha.   By  H.  W.  Longfellow. 

Hidden  Hand.     By  Mrs.   Southworth. 

History    of    Crime.      Victor    Hugo. 

History  of  Cjvilization  in  Europe. 
By  M.  Guizot 

History  of  Our  Own  Times.  VoL  I. 
By  Justin  McCarthy. 

History  of  Our  Own  Times.  Vol. 
II.  By  Justin  McCarthy. 

Holmes'  Poems.     By  O.  W.  Holmes. 

Holy  Roman  Empire.  James  Bryce. 

Homo    Sum.     By   George   Ebers. 

Hood's  Poems.     By  Thomas  Hood. 

House  of  the  Seven  Gables.  By  Na- 
thaniel Hawthorne. 

Hunchback  of  N'otre  Dame.  By  Victor 
Hugo. 

Hypatia.     By  Charles  Kingsley. 

Iceland  Fisherman.  By  Pierre  Loti. 

Idle  Thoughts  of  an  Idle  Fellow.  By 
Jerome  K.  Jerome. 

Iliad.   The.     Pope's   Translation. 

Inez.     By  Augusta  J.  Evans. 

Ingelow's   Poems.     Jean   Ingelow. 

Intellectual  Life.     P.  G.  Hamerton. 

In   the  Golden  Days.   Edna  Lyall. 

Ishmael.      By    Mrs.    Southworth. 

It  Is  Never  Too  Late  to  Mend.  By 
Charles  Reade. 

Ivanhoe.     By   Sir  Walter   Scott 

Jane  Eyre.     By  Charlotte  Bronte. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Life  of.  By  Sam- 
uel L.  Schmucker. 

Joan  of  Arc,  Life  of.  By  Jules 
Michelet 

John  Halifax.    By  Miss  Mulock. 

Jones,  John  Paul,  Life  of.  James 
Otis. 

Joseph  Balsamo.     By  Alex.  Dumas. 
Josephine,    Empress   of    France,    Life 

of.     By  Fred  A.  Ober. 
Keats'  Poems.     By  John  Keats. 
Kenilworth.     By  Sir  Walter   Scott 
Kidnapped.     By  R.  L.   Stevenson. 
King  Arthur  and  His  Noble  Knights. 

By  Mary  Maclcod. 


Knickerbocker's  History  of  New 
York.  By  Washington  Irving. 

Knight  Errant.      By  Edna  Lyall. 

Koran,   The.    Sales  Translation. 

Lady  of  the  Lake.  By  Sir  W.  Sc»tt 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  Life  of.  by 
P.  C.  Headley. 

Lalla  Rookh.     By  Thomas  Moore. 

Lamplighter.      Marie    S.    Cummins. 

Last  Days  of  Pompeii.  By  Bulww- 
Lytton. 

Last  of  the   Barona.   Bulwer-Lytton. 
Last    of    fie    Mohicans.       By    Jamef 

Fenimore  Cooper. 
Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  Life  of.     By  Q 

Mercer    Adam. 

Lena  Rivers.     By  Mary  J.  Holmes. 
Les    Miserables.      Vol.    I.      By    Vi> 

tor    Hugo. 

Les    Miserables.      Vol.    II.      By    Vit- 

tor    Hugo. 

Life  of  Christ     By  F.  W.  Farrar. 
Life    of    Jesus.      By    Earnest    Renaix 
Light    of   Asia.      Sir    Edwin    Arnold. 
Light    That    Failed,    The.      By    Rud* 

yard   Kipling. 
Lincoln,     Abraham,     Life     of.       By 

Henry   Ketcham. 

Lincoln's  Speeches.  By  G.  Mercer 
Adam. 

Literature  and  Dogma.  By  Mat- 
thew  Arnold. 

Little  Dorrit.  By  Charles  Dick- 
ens. 

Little     Minister,     The.       By     James 

M.    Barrie. 
Livingstone,     David.       Life    of.       By 

Thomas   Hughes. 
Longfellow's    Poems.      H.    W.    Lott» 

fellow. 

Lorna   Doone.     R.   D.   Blackmore. 
Louise       de       la       Valliere.        Ami 
Dumas. 

Lowell's  Poems.     J.  Rusell  Lowell. 
Lucile.      By    Owen    Meredith. 
Macaria.     Augusta  J.   Evans. 
Macauley's      Literary      Essays.        By 

T.    B.    Macauley. 
Magic  Skin.    Honore  de  Balzac. 
Mahomet,      Life      of.        Washington 

Irving. 

Makers  of  Florence.  Mrs.  Olfr 
phant 

Makers  of  Venice.     Mn.  Oliphant. 


BURT'S  HOME  LIBRARY.    Cloth.     Gilt  Tops.    Price.  $1.29 


Man    in    the    Iron    Mask.      By    Alex 

andre   Dumas. 

Marble  Faun.     N.  Hawthorne. 
Marguerite     de       la       Valois.        By 

Alexandra  Dumas. 
Marius,  The  Epicurean.     By  Walter 

Pater. 

Marmion.      By    Sir    Walter    Scott 
Marquis     of     Lossie.         Geo.     Mac 

donald. 

Martin  Chuzzlewit.  Charles  Dickens. 
Mary,     Queen     of     Scots,     Life     of. 

By  P.  C.  Headley. 
Master  of   Ballantrae,   The.     By   R. 

L.    Stevenson. 
Masterman       Ready.        Capt.      Mar 

ryatt 

Meadow  Brook.     Mary  J.  Holmes. 
Meditations    of    Marcus    Aurelius. 
Memoirs   of    a    Physician.      By   Alex- 

andre   Dumas. 

Micah  Clarke.     A.  Conan  Doyle. 
Michael   Strogoff.     Jules  Verne. 
Middlemarch.     By  George  Eliot. 
Midshipman      Easy.         Capt       Mar- 

ryatt 
Mill     on    the    Floss.        By    George 

Eliot. 
Milton's  Poems.     John  Milton. 

Minister's    Woping,    The.      By    Har- 
riet Beecher  Stowe. 
Monastery.      Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Montaigne's     Essays.     Vol.     I.     By 

Michel  de  Montaigne. 
Montaigne's    Essays.      Vol.    II.      By 

Michel  de  Montaigne. 
Moonstone,    The.       By    Wilkie    Col- 
lins. 

Moore's  Poems.     Thomas  Moore. 
Mosses    from    an    Old    Manse.      By 
Nathaniel    Hawthorne. 

Murders    in    the    Rue    Morgue.      By 
Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

Mysterious  Island.     Jules  Verne. 

Napoleon     and    His    Marshals.      By 
J.  T.  Headley. 

Napoleon    Bonaparte,    Life    of.      By 

P.   C.   Headley. 
Natural       Law      in      the       Spiritual 

World.       By   Henry   Drummond. 
Narrative    of    Arthur     Gordon     Pym. 

By  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 
Nature,       Addresses      ard      Lectures. 

By  R.  W,  Emerso-. 


Nelson,    Admiral    Horatio,    Life    of. 

By  Robert   Southey. 
Newcomes.     The.       W.    M.    Thack- 
eray. 

Nicholas   Nickleby.     Chas.  Dickens. 
Ninety-Three.     By  Victor  Hugo. 
Not    Like     Other    Girls.       By     Rosa 

N.  Carey. 

Odyssey,  The.    Pope's  Translation. 
Old    Curiosity    Shop.      Chas.      Dick' 

ens. 
Old     Mam'selle's     Secret       By     E. 

Marlitt 

Old   Mortality.      Sir  Walter   Scott 
Old    Myddleton's    Money.     By   Mart 

Cecil  Hay. 

Oliver  Twist     By  Chas.  Dickens. 
Only    the    Governess.      By    Rosa    N*< 

Carey. 

On  the  Heights.    B.  Auerbach. 
Oregon  Trail.     Francis  Parkman. 
Origin    of    Species.        Charles    Dar« 

win. 
Other     Worlds     Than     Ours.       Bf 

Richard   Proctor. 

Our    Mutual    Friend.    Chas.    Dickeny. 
Page  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  Dumas; 
Past  and   Present     Thos.   Carlyle. 
Pathfinder,  .The.  By  James  F.  Cooper.: 
Paul  and  Virginia.     St   Pierre. 
Pendennis.     Wm.   M.   Thackeray. 
Penn,    William,     Life    of.       By    W. 

Hepworth     Dixon. 
Pere   Goriot     Honore  de  Balzac. 
Peter,  the  Great,   Life  of.   By  John 

Barrow. 
Phantom       Rickshaw,      The.  By 

Rudyard  Kipling. 
Philip    II.    of    Spain,    Life    of.      By 

Martin  A.  S.  Hume. 
Pickwick   Papers.     Charles   Dickens. 
Pilgrim's  Progress.    John   Bunyan. 
Pillar  of  Fire.     J.  H.  Ingraham. 
Pilot,  The.     James  F.  Cooper. 
Pioneers,  The.    James  F.  Cooper. 
Pirate,  The.     Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Plain    Tales    from    the    Hills.      Bj 

Rudyard   Kipling. 
Plato's   Dialogues. 
Pleasures  of  Life.     Sir  J.  Lubbock. 
Poe's  Poems.     By  Edgar  A.  Poe. 
Pope's   Poems.     Alexander   Pope. 
Prairie,  The.    James  F, 


BURT'S  HOME  LIBRARY.    Cloth.     Gilt  Tops.     Price.  SI.  J5 


Pride  and  Prejudice.    Jane  Austen. 
Prince   of   the    House   of   David.      By 

Rev.  J.   H.   Ingraham. 
Princess  of  Thule.     Wm.   Black. 
Procter's    Poems.      Adelaide    Procter. 
Prue  and  I.     George  Wm.  Curtis. 
Putnam,  General  Israel,  Life  of.    By 

George    Canning   Hill. 
Put   Yourself   in   His    Place.    Charles 

Reade. 

Queenie's  Whim.     Rosa  N.  Carey. 
Queen's   Necklace.     Alex   Dumas. 
Quentin  Durward.     Walter   Scott. 
Rasselas.     Samuel  Johnson. 
Redgauntlet.     Sir  Walter  Scott 
Red   Rover.     By  James   F.   Cooper. 
Regent's  Daughter.   By  Alex.   Dumas. 
Representative  Men.  R.  W.  Emerson. 
Republic  of  Plato. 
Reveries     of    a     Bachelor.       By     Ik 

Marvel. 
Richelieu,     Cardinal,     Life    of.       By 

Richard  Lodge. 
Rienzi.      By    Bulwer-Lytton. 
Robinson  Crusoe.     Daniel  Defoe. 
Rob  Roy.     Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Romance     of     Two     Worlds.         By 

Marie    Corelli. 
Romola.     By  George  Eliot. 
Rory  O'Moore.    Samuel  Lover. 
Rossetti's   Poems. 

Royal  Edinburgh.  Mrs.  Oliphant 
Rutledge.  Miriam  Coles  Harris. 
Samantha  at  Saratoga.  By  Josiah 

Allen's   Wife. 

Sartor  Resartus.     Thomas  Carlyle. 
Scarlet  Letter.     N'athaniel  Hawthorne. 
Schonberg-Cotta     Family.       By    Mrs. 

Andrew  Charles. 
Schopenhauer's  Essays. 
Scottish  Chiefs.     By  Jane  Porter. 
Scott's  Poems.     Walter  Scott. 
Second  Wife.  The.     E.  Marlitt 
Seekers  After  God.     F.  W.  Farrar. 
Self-Help.     By    Samuel    Smiles. 
Self-Raised.     By  Mrs.  Southworth. 
Seneca's   Morals. 

Sense     and     Sensibility.       By     Jane 
Austen. 

Sentimental        Journey.          Laurence 
Sterne. 

Sesame   and    Ljllies.       John    Ruskin. 


Shakespeare's  Heroines.  Anna  Jame- 
son. 

Shelley's    Poems. 

Shirley.     By  Charlotte  Bronte. 

Sing  of  the  Four.  By  A.  Conau 
Doyle. 

Silas  Marner.     By  George  Eliot. 

Silence  of  Dean  Maitland.  By 
Maxwell  Grey. 

Sir  Gibbie.     George  Macdonald. 

Sketch  Book.     By  Washington  Irving. 

Socrates,  Trial  and  Death  of. 

Soldiers  Three.     Rudyard  Kipling. 

Spy,    The.      By   James    F.    Cooper. 

Stanley,  Henry  M.,  Life  of.  By 
A.  Montefiore. 

Story  of  an  African  Farm.  By 
Olive  Schxeiner. 

Story  of  John  G.  Paton.  By  Rev. 
Jas.  Paton. 

St.  Elmo.     By  Augusta  J.  Evans. 
St.   Ronan's  Well.     Walter   Scott. 
Study  in  Scarlet     A.  Conan  Doyle. 
Surgeon's    Daughter,    The.      By    Sit 
Walter  Scott. 

Swineburne's   Poems. 

Swiss  Family  Robinson.  By  Jean 
Rudolph  Wyss. 

Taking    the    Bastile,    Alex.      Dumas. 

Tale  of  Two  Cities,  Chas.  Dick- 
ens. 

Tales  from  Shakespeare.  By 

Charles  and  Mary  Lamb. 

Tales  of  a  Traveller.  By  Wash, 
ington  Irving. 

Talisman.     Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Tanglewood  Tales.  N.  Haw- 
thorne. 

Tempest  and  Sunshine.  By  Mary 
J.  Holmes. 

Ten  Nights  in  a  Bar  Room.  By  T.  S 
Arthur. 

Tennyson's   Poems. 

Ten  Years  Later,     Alex.  Dumas. 

Terrible  Temptation.       Charles  Reado 

Thaddeus  of  Warsaw.  By  Jan* 
Porter. 

Thelma.    By  Marie  Corelli. 

Thirty    Years'    War.      Bv    Frederick 

Schiller. 

Thousand  Miles  Up  the  Nile-  By 
Amelia  B.  Edwards, 


BURT'S  HOME  LIBRARY.    Cloth.    Gilt  Tops.     Price.  $1.23 


Three  Guardsmen.    Alex  Dumas. 
Three  Men  in  a  Boat.    Jerome. 
Thrift.     By   Samuel   Smiles. 
Throne  of  David.    J.  H.  Ingraham. 
Toilers  of  the  Sea.     Victor  Hugo. 
Tom   Browu  at  Oxford.     By  Thomas 

Hughes. 
Tom     Brown's     School     Days.       By 

Thos.  Hughes. 
Tour     of     the      World     in      Eighty 

Days.     By  Jules  Verne. 
Treasure     Island.       R.     L.     Steven- 
son. 
Twenty     Thousand     Leagues     Under 

the  Sea.     By  Jules  Verne. 
Twenty  Years  After.    Alex,  Dumas. 
Twice  Told  Tales.     N.  Hawthorne. 
Two  Admirals.     By  J.  F.  Cooper. 
Two    years    Before    the    Mast.      By 

R.  H.   Dana,  Jr. 
Uarda.     By  George   Ebers. 
Uncle  Max.     Rosa  N.  Carey. 
Uncle    Tom's     Cabin.       By     Harriet 

Beecher  Stowe. 

Under  Two   Flags.     By  "Ouida." 
Utopia.     By  Sir  Thomas  Moore. 
Vanity  Fair.     Wm.   M.  Thackery. 
Veudetta.     By  Marie  Corelli. 
Vi«ar     of     Wakefield.       By     Oliver 

Goldsmith. 
Vicomte    de    Bragelonne.      By    Alez- 

andre   Dumas. 

Vihws  A-Foot.     Bayard  Taylor. 
Villette.     By  Charlotte  Bronte. 
Virginians.    Wm.  M.  Thackeray. 
Wald«a.     By  Henry  D.  Thorcau. 


Vol.    I. 


VoL  IL 


By 
By 
Bjt 
By 


Br 


Wandering   Jew,   The. 

Eugene  Sue. 
Wandering  Jew,  The. 

Eugene  Sue. 
Washington  and  His  Generals. 

J.  T.  Headley. 

Washington,    George.    Life    of. 

Jared   Sparks. 

Water  Babies.     Charles  Kingsley. 
Water  Witch.     James  F.   Cooper. 
Waverly.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Webster,      Daniel,      Life      of. 

Samuel  M.  Schmucker. 
Webster's  Speeches.     (Selected). 
Westward  Ho.    Charles  Kingsley. 
We  Two.     By  Edna   Lyall. 
White  Company.     A  Conan  Doyle. 
Whites  and  the  Blues.     Dumas. 
Whittier's  Poems.    J.  G.  Whittier. 
Wide,     Wide     World.       By     Susan 

Warner. 
William,     the     Conqueror,     Life     of. 

By  Edward  A.  Freeman. 
William,    the    Silent,    Life    of.      B» 

Frederick  Harrison. 
Window  in  Thrums.    J.  M.  Barrie. 
Wing  and  Wing.     J.   F.   Cooper. 
Wolsey,     Cardinal,     Life     of.         By 

Mandell    Creighton. 

Woman  in  White.     Wilkie  Collini. 
Won  by  Waiting.     Edna   Lyall. 
Wonder  Book.     N.  Hawthorne. 
Woodstock.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Wordsworth's  Poems. 

ftr  Marie  Corelli 


AVK-UNITOA 

£ 

p   ^f  ft 


UAINfl-3 

05-ANCfl 


University  of  California  Library 
Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


| 

- 


UBRAR 


REC'DYRL 


APR28TQ3 


£   I 


so 

&z>          ^ 
•^  •>> 


"NIV«WTYOFCAUWRN« 

L  007  9182705 


. 


.\I1tUNIVtltV/V 


